talking american and values: how to win on health care david domke department of communication...

Talking American and Values:How to Win on Health Care

David DomkeDepartment of Communication

University of Washington

Agenda

1. The Public

2. Messages

3. Example

Section 1

The Public

The Public, 1: Decision-making

The Public, 1: Decision-makingDrew Westen: The Political Brain, 2007


Two visions of mind and brain have dominated contemporary American politics. One is a dispassionate vision, which suggests that voters choose candidates by examining their positions on the issues and coolly calculating their relative costs and benefits. The other, a passionate vision, suggests that voters are moved by the feelings that candidates and parties elicit in them and are guided by their shared values and goals.

“


The dispassionate vision has guided much of the strategy that has reliably cost Democrats winnable elections over the past four decades, and it could do so again in 2008. It suggests that the way to convince voters is to offer them the portfolio of issues and facts that most appeals to their self-interest. But this vision flies in the face of everything we know about how the mind and brain actually work. It flies in the face of 40 years of social-science research. It flies in the face of American political history.

“


By my count, voters disagreed with Ronald Reagan on about 75 percent of ‘the issues.’ But they liked him. They believed he would restore America’s greatness. They voted with their values. So do Democrats, but their candidates too often hide their values in the fine print of their policies. … If you don’t make people feel the health-care crisis — either as a disaster that could one day hit them or as something that just isn’t right — you won’t win on health care, regardless of how sound your plan is.

“ “

The Public, 2: Engagement


Dutiful Relational

Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory S/elective


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory

Citizenship = formal acts

S/elective


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective

Citizenship = everyday acts


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective


Receive media


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective


Receive media Navigate media


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective



Joiners


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective



Joiners Networkers


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective



Joiners Networkers

Want security


Dutiful Relational

Obligatory


S/elective



Joiners Networkers

Want security Want epicness


Dutiful Relational


The Public, 3: Age

States by age:Youngest

The Public, 3: Age

1. Utah

2. Texas

3. Alaska

4. Idaho

5. California

6. Georgia

7. Mississippi

8. Louisiana

9. Arizona

10. Colorado

States by age:Youngest

The Public, 3: Age

Section 2

Messages

meaning

words

Messages and the Public


Behaviors/opinions U.S. adults

Regularly listen to National Public Radio

Buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week

Shop Wal-Mart regularly or once in a while

Poll Question 1

Do you regularly listen to National Public Radio?

YesNo

Click on the down arrow if you can’t see the response choices.



Regularly listen to National Public Radio 10%

Buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week


Poll Question 2

Do you buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week?

YesNo

Click on the down arrow if you can’t see the response choices.




Buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week 10%





Buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week 10%

Shop Wal-Mart regularly or once in a while 84%

Section 3

An Example

The Climate Change Movement

ResponsibilityLegacy for future

Opportunity


transp


energy

transp



transp

energy

rich/poor

SecurityLegacy for future

Opportunity

consum

transprich/poor

energy


Responsibility Legacy for future

Opportunity

TRANSP

ENERGY

RICH/POOR


Two Approaches


The Climate Change Movement1. Mary Pearl, president Wildlife Trust


One of the most important and overlooked ecosystems in the world is in areas of rapid land conversion, where agriculture is encroaching on wilderness and where wildlife, livestock and humans are in close proximity. When you talk about emerging diseases, that's where they're emerging from. Nipah virus, which was first identified in Malaysia in 1999, is an example.

“


Pig farms were carved out of forested areas, and fruit orchards were planted next to the pig enclosures, which brought pigs into contact with fruit bats, the natural reservoir for Nipah virus. The virus spread to pigs and then to the farmers, and the ones who caught it had a 40 percent mortality rate. Organizations such as ours are pioneering a new specialty we call conservation medicine. In developed countries, the default assumption is that you're healthy unless you have a specific disease.

“


In developing nations you have a whole cornucopia of pathogens: malnutrition, exposure to pesticides and other toxins, a heavy parasite load, and people are living among livestock and wildlife. Jonathan Patz of the University of Wisconsin documented a huge upsurge in malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the Peruvian Amazon, corresponding with intensive settlement and deforestation. Clearing the trees changed the population balance among the mosquitoes. Those are the kinds of challenges we’re increasingly going to face in the 21st century.

““

The Climate Change Movement2. Rich Cizik, VP of Natl. Assoc. Evangelicals


The protection of the environment is a Biblically rooted epic task straight from God. The status quo [of how we treat the earth] is simply unacceptable. The idea that we can continue as a nation without exhibiting leadership to the rest of the world in this crisis is simply anathema. We have to be at the forefront of providing energy-efficient green solutions across the board, from autos to heating and air conditioning. We have to show leadership if India and China are to follow. Yet we’re at the back of the line; that’s not American.

“


I’m a Ronald Reagan sunny conservative, and I know for a fact that evangelicals are can-do, solution-oriented entrepreneurs. Instead of looking at global warming as Jerry Falwell has called it, ‘Satan’s diversion,’ we should see it as a note from God that says, ‘I said to be a steward, my children. Sin has consequence, and if you pollute this earth there will be a price to pay. But it’s not too late, and with my help you can restore Eden.’

“

The Climate Change Movement2. Rich Cizik, VP of Natl. Assoc.

Evangelicals

Environmentalism is the civil-rights issue of the 21st century, and one doesn’t have to look too far back to see that evangelicals sat on their hands when it came to civil rights for blacks. I refuse to sit on my hands and allow the evangelical heritage to be sullied again, because the very reputation of the evangelical witness is at stake. It’s crucial that we not make the mistake of our fathers.

“ “

Talking American

Talking American

Third Way Project, October 2005

Talking American


Since the mid-1950s, and more notably after 1968, the [Democratic] party has been home to both highly educated upscale professionals and less well educated working class voters. Not only do upscale professionals lead lives that are quite different from those of average families, they also tend to think and speak differently. Complex professional discourse tends to create a barrier between our candidates and the voters with whom they must communicate.

“

Talking American


Democratic candidates who are far removed from the lives and feelings of average families will have a hard time understanding the daily challenges these families face...

It is no accident, we believe, that Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry, the three recent Democratic candidates most closely connected with the outlook of the professional class, found it so difficult to convey their agendas and concerns to the electorate, or that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, with their small-town roots, were more able to do so.

“

Talking American



If Democratic candidates do not “speak American” as a native language, average Americans will find it hard to believe that these candidates really understand or care about them.

“ “

Talking American



If do not “speak American” as a native language, average Americans will find it hard to believe that really understand or care about them.

“ “

talking american and values: how to win on health care david domke department of communication...

Documents

engagementthe public

publicthe public

formal actsselectivethe

everyday actsthe public

decisionmakingthe public

political brain

decisionmakingdrew westen

vision flies