On the topic of owning the political language, UVa’s Nathan Piazza has some Lakoffian thoughts on the matter of Democratic memes, or the lack thereof. He offers a series of excellent suggestions for how Democrats can better manipulate the language of political discourse, such as referring not to “gay marriage,” but instead to “family rights”; not to “Islamic fundamentalists,” but to “conservative Muslim groups”; not to “stopping outsourcing” or “funding stem cell research” but to putting “America first”; not to “international diplomacy,” but to “the Good Neighbor doctrine”; not to “big brother,” but to “citizen spying”; and so on.
I can’t overemphasize how important that it is for Democrats not to buy into Republicans’ (quite successful) attempts to control the use of the language. Using phrases like “gay marriage,” “partial birth abortion,” and words like “terrorism,” we permit Republicans to frame the issue. The more we argue in favor of “gay marriage,” the further in that we dig ourselves.
Give Piazza’s piece a read and take it to heart. This is important stuff.