LAKOFF TRIES TO REFRAME SACTO’S CONVERSATION

New York Times | January 4, 2010 | By Michelle Quinn | LINK TO ARTICLE

George Lakoff is known for, among other things, writing books about how the outcome of political debates and campaigns often depends on how the conversation has been framed, who controls the metaphors used. He has spoken to lawmakers in Washington and Sacramento and analyzed conservative spin and why liberals have failed in some of their efforts.

So why is he trying to get more than one million signatures to put an initiative on the California ballot in November 2010? “It’s not fun,” he said. “It’s an education.”

Mr. Lakoff’s proposed ballot initiative would change California’s constitution to allow a majority of the state legislature to pass a budget or to raise revenue. It has been a source of frustration for some lawmakers that it takes not a simple majority, but two-thirds of the legislature to pass a budget (which has been true since the 1930’s) and to raise taxes (true since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978).

Mr. Lakoff had heard lawmakers’ frustrations but saw no one else taking action. In September, Mr. Lakoff paid $200 and began his odyssey to get his 14-word proposal on the ballot. Other groups have proposed changing the rules for passing the budget but not for raising revenues. So, now Mr. Lakoff is in the preliminary stages of a political campaign and hoping for his first direct political fight, assuming the ballot initiative qualifies. He has to raise more than $1 million, he thinks, and get about 1.3 million signatures (expecting, as he does, that some percentage will be disqualified. He needs 694,354 to qualify). He has until April 12.

Not surprisingly, he is especially attuned to how the debate is framed. The “father of framing,” as he was called in the New York Times Magazine, Mr. Lakoff got into a word argument with the state Attorney General’s office, which changed the words (who does that with a linguistics specialist?) to read “raise taxes” rather than “raise revenues.” “It’s not about raising or lowering taxes; it’s about democracy and letting the people decide.” He lost that one.

And for those who call California’s voting a rules a “”supermajority,” Mr. Lakoff is quick to correct. “If you say ’supermajority’ it sounds like extra majority. It isn’t that. It’s minority rule, a small number of conservatives run the state government.”

“We have to run with that description. We have to explain that it has to do with democracy, that it’s a choice between whether a small number of people in Sacramento should make the decisions or the people of California.”

He has put together an organization with a political action committee and a senior adviser. “You can talk about framing all you want; if there’s not a communication system, it doesn’t work,” he said. “Democrats haven’t built a communication system. Republicans have.” Information can be found on two websites, CaliforniansForDemocracy.com and CAMajorityRule.com. He has reached out to university student organizations and educators to take their frustrations with fee hikes, class cuts and furloughs by channel it into helping with the signature drive.

Practical politics are mucky. A lot of it is creating an organization and getting people to the polls. But if he succeeds, he’ll work on framing the issue, of course, and writing the ballot argument.