It's the framing, stupid.

[renegade000]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_effect_(psychology)

One of the many reasons I suspect the Democratic party has been cowed ever rightward is that our politicians don't realize they are constantly accepting the way Republicans frame issues without question.

I mean, when someone is presented with the choice of:

A) Big government
B) Small government

what sounds better?

You'd be shooting yourself in the foot if you tried to argue in favor of "big government", so we buckle and try to appear "moderate".

Instead of buying into the Republican framing, we to fight back by proffering our own way of framing issues!

- Instead of big vs. small government, we should be arguing for WORKING vs. "DO NOTHING" government.

- Instead of decrying "tax cuts for the upper 1%", we should be screaming about "government giveaways for the upper 1%".

- Instead of free markets vs. government-regulation, we should be speaking in terms of "lawless markets" vs. "fair markets"

- Instead of saying people are "pro-life", we should say they are for "government takeover of a woman's body." (hmmm, anyone know how to shorten that one?)

In an ideal world, everyone will be well-informed enough and think hard enough about the issues and their own psychology to mitigate the effects of framing...
But until then, we need to fight fire with fire!