The Medium Is The Message

11:30 AM Apr 06, 2006

George Lakoff, Man of Frames, observed that the GOP "can evoke [its principles] all in a ten-word philosophy: Strong Defense, Free Markets, Lower Taxes, Smaller Government, Family Values."

Lakoff's star might have passed its apex a year ago, but it bequeathed his party the Diogenean quest for its own elevator pitch philosophy.

If that quest has taken a back seat in the Beltway to the easier sport of watching Republican government self-destruct and attempting to reap easy dividends come November, it is still widely indulged on the Internets where the constituent stuff of time and opinionation sprout thick on the ground.

In the best tradition of Web 2.0 mashups, Our Ten Words has crossed tagging with vox populi to render the lexicology of user submissions in tag cloud form, a sort of meta-focus group of progressive memes as seen by the Democrats' base. (regrettably there's no cloud for two-word combinations, which might be fascinationg.)

And the large fonts -- tossing helping words like "not," "all" and "america/american" -- belong to

Education
Environment/Environmental
Equal/Equality
Fair/Fairness
Government
Health/Healthcare
Honest/Honesty
Justice
Opportunity
Peace
People
Responsible/Responsibility

Now, run them through a random mission statement generator and watch the electoral spoils roll in. No organizing or governing needed!

All jesting aside, think of the old-school way to do this -- precinct-level party meetings, caucuses, arcane party platform squabbles ... or else focus-grouping, commissioned polls, direct mail tests. This may be rough around the edges, but it's a pretty cost-efficient way to take the temperature of an audience. (Oh, and just incidentally, build your e-mail list.)

But ... then what?

Add a comment