We've been framed!

How? Why? And why we should rejoice.

My name is Joy and I approve this message 😁.

I watched most of both the RNC and DNC conventions, and wow! the differences in focus and vibe could not have been clearer.

It’s like the Democrats finally got hold of some positivity pills, and the joyful energy could not be contained. Speaker after speaker spoke of freedom, equal opportunity, love of country, the dignity and worth of everyone, mutual support, kindness and neighborliness… a cornucopia overflowing with goodwill. And wow, did we gobble it up! Like we’d been starving for it.

Yes, we’ve got two fabulous candidates in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and a deep bench of amazing candidates and elected officials in the wings, which is plenty to be excited about. But something else was going on underneath at that convention. These are perilous times for democracy, and if we’re to survive the Democratic party needed to move us from anxious paralysis into activated hope. And we’re doing it! we are now reclaiming our own versions of patriotism, freedom, family and moral values.

This is what you saw this week in Chicago. We are choosing joy, compassion, and the Golden Rule, and it feels so good.

What shook us out of paralysis (besides our great candidates)? It’s time to give George Lakoff some well-deserved credit.

I read Don’t Think of an Elephant when it came out twenty years ago, and it forever changed how I viewed political speech. Our words have surface meanings, of course, but carefully chosen metaphors can tap into our deepest emotions and shape our world view. This field of study is called “cognitive linguistics,” and Professor George Lakoff (now retired) is a master. His question: is there an overarching metaphor big enough to describe the frame or context that differentiates the moral philosophies of the Democratic and Republican parties? To find an answer he examined how they use language to describe their values and policies.

Don’t Think of an Elephant is so enlightening and fascinating you owe it to yourself to get a copy and dig in. Here’s a summary of his two metaphorical models: the Republican Party is the Strict Father, and the Democratic party is the Nurturant Parent.

The Strict Father model begins with a set of assumptions: The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be, because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong. Children are born bad, in the sense that they just want to do what feels good, not what is right. Therefore, they have to be made good. What is needed in this kind of a world is a strong, strict father who can:
—protect the family in the dangerous world,
—support the family in the difficult world,
—teach his children right from wrong.

What is required of the child is obedience, because the strict father is a moral authority who knows right from wrong. It is further assumed that the only way to teach kids right from wrong is through punishment when they do wrong…

This leads to self-discipline and individual responsibility, which is required for success in the difficult, competitive world. The child either grows up and prospers or fails, but either way, the strict father no longer meddles in their life. Politically, this translates into no government meddling either.

Consider what all this means for social programs. It is immoral to give people things they have not earned, because then they will not develop discipline and will become dependent and immoral… Hence social programs are immoral… and you reward those who succeed with tax cuts.

The Nurturant Parent model is what we witnessed at the DNC convention. (It is gender neutral, because both parents are equally responsible for raising the children.) These are our progressive values.

The assumption is that children are born good and can be made better. The world can be made a better place, and our job is to work on that. The parents’ job is to nurture their children and to raise their children to be nurturers of others. What does nurturance mean? It means three things: empathy, responsibility for yourself and others, and a commitment to do your best not just for yourself, but for your family, your community, your country, and the world.

A nurturant parent must be strong, responsible and competent. You want to protect the child—from drugs, environmental toxins, disease, accidents, gun violence. And you want your child to be happy and fulfilled in life, which you model by how you conduct your own life. There are other nurturant values:

• Freedom: If you want your child to be fulfilled in life, the child has to be free enough to seek and find fulfillment.

• Opportunity: required for freedom.

• Fairness: you want your child to be treated fairly and to treat others fairly

• Honest, open communication: because you empathize and want to connect with your child

• Community, service to the community, and cooperation in a community. A supportive environment affects how your child grows up.

• Trust: essential for cooperation, along with honesty and open two-way communication.

One of the most impressive accomplishments of the DNC convention was that it felt like the party came together internally. Under the Democratic umbrella we have many factions, each with their special agenda, which is the Most Important Agenda. This week we owned inclusion within our own ranks—your agenda is my agenda, and my agenda is your agenda, because we’re all in this together.

Back in 2006, appalled by our local Democrats’ inability to communicate our values, a couple of friends and I started the Progressive Voices Toastmasters Club with the purpose of helping each other and our candidates better express our ideas. Don’t Think of an Elephant was required reading. It still is today.

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PUT YOURSELF IN THE WAY OF BEAUTY

The defunct Centennial Flour Mill building in NW Portland, behind Fields Park. The graffiti behind the stairs actually makes it look even cooler. Very wabi sabi.

If you're new here, you can catch up on the last 25 issues of Alive! with Joy until I disconnect with Mailchimp. Over the years I've posted lots more on my various websites:

• ColorstylePDX.com/blog 65 posts about color analysis and seasonal style. 

• joyoverstreet.com/  My author website. Learn about my book, the Cherry Pie Paradox: The Surprising Path to Diet Freedom and Lasting Weight Loss, plus other magazine writing, links to guest appearances on a bunch of podcasts and video interviews.

© Joy Imboden Overstreet 2024 Portland, OR