the President
This is a great article. We need to send it far and wide. Urge everyone to
take up their teaspoon and bring a little sand to the bucket.
If the tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
Even more certain is the knowledge that if no one speaks up, the Word will
not go out.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 7:16 PM
Subject: SOTU 2014: The Cognitive Power of the President
Lakoff writes: "There are enough people guessing what the president will do.
This is about what he almost certainly won't do, but what I would like him
to do."
President Barack Obama. (photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)
SOTU 2014: The Cognitive Power of the President
By George Lakoff, Reader Supported News
27 January 14
There are enough people guessing what the president will do. This is about
what he almost certainly won't do, but what I would like him to do.
The president has material power without the Congress, and personally, I
would like to see him use it. He could issue an executive order for the
government to grant contracts only to companies that pay their workers above
some higher minimum wage. Or he could reject the XL pipeline on two national
security grounds: its contribution to global warming and the dangers of
leaks, explosions; and he could stop the virtual pipeline of dangerous tar
sands and fracked oil shipments by train and waterway by insisting
immediately on safe puncture-proof tanks. He could direct federal agencies
to monitor and control dangerous chemical use and storage to prevent future
versions of the Great West Virginia Water Disaster. I would love to see him
act in dozens, if not hundreds, of areas for the public good, and give the
moral grounds in the SOTU.
Beyond material power, the president has even greater power -- cognitive
power -- and he hasn't used it much. Cognitive power is the power to put
important ideas in people's minds by shaping public discourse. He has the
unique power to change how America thinks simply by discussing crucial ideas
over and over.
American democracy is based on empathy -- citizens caring about other
citizens and working through their government to provide public resources
for all, making both decent lives and flourishing markets possible. He used
to speak of empathy as "the most important thing my mother taught me." But
he was misinterpreted by conservatives and dropped this most central idea.
He started talking, as Elisabeth Warren has so eloquently, about the crucial
nature of public resources, but he messed up once ("You didn't build it")
and stopped. He needs to take up that theme, get it right, and repeat it in
every speech.
We know he's going to talk about economic inequality, as he should. He will
probably mention worker salaries, which haven't risen in 30 years. But he
needs to state a simple truth: Workers are Profit Creators! Corporate
"productivity" -- the profit-per-worker -- has risen, but the profit
creators haven't been getting a fair share of the profits.
One of the reasons for low salaries is that out-of-work workers can't
bargain for fair wages as individuals. The absence, or weakening, of unions
leads to Wage Slavery: take what you are offered or someone else will. The
president needs to talk about Wage Slavery and how unions offer freedom from
wage slavery. This is a crucial idea missing from public discourse,
especially in states where conservatives are trying to legislate wage
slavery via so-called "Right to work laws," which are actually exploitation
laws. The president should be talking regularly about how unions contribute
to freedom -- and getting the unions themselves to talk about it. If the
idea isn't mentioned, it won't enter the public mind.
Next, pensions. Pensions are delayed payments for work already done. Say it,
Mr. President. When pensions are cut, the wages already earned by workers
are being stolen. Pension funds are often taken by companies and local
governments and spent on other things. That is theft. There needs to be
transparency -- public reporting yearly -- on what is being done with
pension funds. The president could issue and executive order that any
company, state, or municipality receiving money from the government must
adopt the transparency principle for pension funds.
The president has occasionally used the idea of investment where
conservatives talk of "spending." Drop "spending," Mr. President. When you
spend money, as when you buy a product, the money is gone. But when you
invest, the money is still there. Paying for early childhood education is a
wise major investment in the brains of our children. Remember that by the
time a child is five or six years old, half of his or her neural connections
have died off -- the half least used. A child's brain is shaped and
developed in those important pre-K years. Funding serious pre-K is one of
the most important investments out country could make. The investment isn't
gone. It is there in the child. Talk about brain shaping during pre-K, Mr.
President. Every one in the country should know about it.
Perhaps the most important cognitive power of the president concerns the
global extreme climate crisis. There are important ideas that need to be in
public discourse. First, nature is inside of us, not just outside, as the
world "environment" suggests. We breathe air, drink water, and eat food.
Pollutants and pesticides are in us, not somewhere else. They cause cancer
and other illnesses. In a drought, as in California right now, you need
water, clean water, to drink and raise food. IN a major hurricane, water is
can be deadly and devastating. Nature is in and around us, and supports all
life. Don't destroy it, poison it, or turn it into a destroyer.
Coal, oil, and natural gas are immoral fuels, dirty fuels. Say it. Our
planet, the only one we have -- nature itself -- is being sacrificed for
short-term private profit. Yet, our government is negotiating a trade
agreement that could outlaw all environmental laws, since it lets foreign
nations sue when state or local environmental laws cut the corporate profits
of foreign-owned corporations. It would be devastating to democracy,
politically, since it gives up the sovereignty of our own people over their
own lives. Don't give in and repeatedly tell us why you are you won't
fast-track that treaty.
You can't drink oil! Protect our water supplies from fracking, which both
uses a huge amount of water per well, puts vast amounts of poison in that
water, endangering water supplies. You can't drink oil. Say it, Mr.
President.
Species Are Us! We are part of the continuum of life with all species. Bees
matter. Don't let them die off. Songbirds matter. Frogs matter. Salmon
matter.
Invite to the SOTU 10 prominent pro-football players who have gotten
lifelong brain damage from concussions received in football. Have them stand
up in the balcony.
Finally, read labels out loud, Mr. President. Harmful chemicals are not just
stored near West Virginia rivers. They are in our food, our cosmetics, and
our toiletries. Use the Good Guide App in your SOTU and have Dara O'Rourke
stand up and take a bow for inventing it. Introduce to the American people
the idea of ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS, chemicals that affect hormones. Read the
Environmental Working Groups list of the dirty dozen, the 12 most dangerous,
and tell everyone where they show up in your refrigerator, larder and
medicine cabinet. Make sure Endocrine Disruptors are labeled as such, with a
brief note pointing out that they affect hormones. Contribute to the health
of our military and their families by an executive order keeping major
endocrine disruptors off the shelves of PX's and military hospitals. The
cognitive and material powers can sometimes work hand-in-hand.
Cognitive powers may seem small, but used over time they can have major
effects.
________________________________________
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
President Barack Obama. (photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)
http://www.readersupportednews.org/http://www.readersupportednews.org/
SOTU 2014: The Cognitive Power of the President
By George Lakoff, Reader Supported News
27 January 14
here are enough people guessing what the president will do. This is about
what he almost certainly won't do, but what I would like him to do.
The president has material power without the Congress, and personally, I
would like to see him use it. He could issue an executive order for the
government to grant contracts only to companies that pay their workers above
some higher minimum wage. Or he could reject the XL pipeline on two national
security grounds: its contribution to global warming and the dangers of
leaks, explosions; and he could stop the virtual pipeline of dangerous tar
sands and fracked oil shipments by train and waterway by insisting
immediately on safe puncture-proof tanks. He could direct federal agencies
to monitor and control dangerous chemical use and storage to prevent future
versions of the Great West Virginia Water Disaster. I would love to see him
act in dozens, if not hundreds, of areas for the public good, and give the
moral grounds in the SOTU.
Beyond material power, the president has even greater power -- cognitive
power -- and he hasn't used it much. Cognitive power is the power to put
important ideas in people's minds by shaping public discourse. He has the
unique power to change how America thinks simply by discussing crucial ideas
over and over.
American democracy is based on empathy -- citizens caring about other
citizens and working through their government to provide public resources
for all, making both decent lives and flourishing markets possible. He used
to speak of empathy as "the most important thing my mother taught me." But
he was misinterpreted by conservatives and dropped this most central idea.
He started talking, as Elisabeth Warren has so eloquently, about the crucial
nature of public resources, but he messed up once ("You didn't build it")
and stopped. He needs to take up that theme, get it right, and repeat it in
every speech.
We know he's going to talk about economic inequality, as he should. He will
probably mention worker salaries, which haven't risen in 30 years. But he
needs to state a simple truth: Workers are Profit Creators! Corporate
"productivity" -- the profit-per-worker -- has risen, but the profit
creators haven't been getting a fair share of the profits.
One of the reasons for low salaries is that out-of-work workers can't
bargain for fair wages as individuals. The absence, or weakening, of unions
leads to Wage Slavery: take what you are offered or someone else will. The
president needs to talk about Wage Slavery and how unions offer freedom from
wage slavery. This is a crucial idea missing from public discourse,
especially in states where conservatives are trying to legislate wage
slavery via so-called "Right to work laws," which are actually exploitation
laws. The president should be talking regularly about how unions contribute
to freedom -- and getting the unions themselves to talk about it. If the
idea isn't mentioned, it won't enter the public mind.
Next, pensions. Pensions are delayed payments for work already done. Say it,
Mr. President. When pensions are cut, the wages already earned by workers
are being stolen. Pension funds are often taken by companies and local
governments and spent on other things. That is theft. There needs to be
transparency -- public reporting yearly -- on what is being done with
pension funds. The president could issue and executive order that any
company, state, or municipality receiving money from the government must
adopt the transparency principle for pension funds.
The president has occasionally used the idea of investment where
conservatives talk of "spending." Drop "spending," Mr. President. When you
spend money, as when you buy a product, the money is gone. But when you
invest, the money is still there. Paying for early childhood education is a
wise major investment in the brains of our children. Remember that by the
time a child is five or six years old, half of his or her neural connections
have died off -- the half least used. A child's brain is shaped and
developed in those important pre-K years. Funding serious pre-K is one of
the most important investments out country could make. The investment isn't
gone. It is there in the child. Talk about brain shaping during pre-K, Mr.
President. Every one in the country should know about it.
Perhaps the most important cognitive power of the president concerns the
global extreme climate crisis. There are important ideas that need to be in
public discourse. First, nature is inside of us, not just outside, as the
world "environment" suggests. We breathe air, drink water, and eat food.
Pollutants and pesticides are in us, not somewhere else. They cause cancer
and other illnesses. In a drought, as in California right now, you need
water, clean water, to drink and raise food. IN a major hurricane, water is
can be deadly and devastating. Nature is in and around us, and supports all
life. Don't destroy it, poison it, or turn it into a destroyer.
Coal, oil, and natural gas are immoral fuels, dirty fuels. Say it. Our
planet, the only one we have -- nature itself -- is being sacrificed for
short-term private profit. Yet, our government is negotiating a trade
agreement that could outlaw all environmental laws, since it lets foreign
nations sue when state or local environmental laws cut the corporate profits
of foreign-owned corporations. It would be devastating to democracy,
politically, since it gives up the sovereignty of our own people over their
own lives. Don't give in and repeatedly tell us why you are you won't
fast-track that treaty.
You can't drink oil! Protect our water supplies from fracking, which both
uses a huge amount of water per well, puts vast amounts of poison in that
water, endangering water supplies. You can't drink oil. Say it, Mr.
President.
Species Are Us! We are part of the continuum of life with all species. Bees
matter. Don't let them die off. Songbirds matter. Frogs matter. Salmon
matter.
Invite to the SOTU 10 prominent pro-football players who have gotten
lifelong brain damage from concussions received in football. Have them stand
up in the balcony.
Finally, read labels out loud, Mr. President. Harmful chemicals are not just
stored near West Virginia rivers. They are in our food, our cosmetics, and
our toiletries. Use the Good Guide App in your SOTU and have Dara O'Rourke
stand up and take a bow for inventing it. Introduce to the American people
the idea of ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS, chemicals that affect hormones. Read the
Environmental Working Groups list of the dirty dozen, the 12 most dangerous,
and tell everyone where they show up in your refrigerator, larder and
medicine cabinet. Make sure Endocrine Disruptors are labeled as such, with a
brief note pointing out that they affect hormones. Contribute to the health
of our military and their families by an executive order keeping major
endocrine disruptors off the shelves of PX's and military hospitals. The
cognitive and material powers can sometimes work hand-in-hand.
Cognitive powers may seem small, but used over time they can have major
effects.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
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