Blue Book as a guide for revolutionaries

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SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2014 11 “The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Demo­ cratic.” Simon and Schuster 2012.

While reading Monthly Review some time ago, I read the following quote by Howard J. Sherman: “The object of radicals should not be to impress their colleagues with their brilliance. Rather the purpose should be to communicate important views to as large a grass­ roots audience as possible.” My thought was, “Okay, how do I do this?” George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, and Elisabeth Wehling, political strategist, have provided the answer in “The Little Blue Book.”

This short book (139 pages) spells out key strategies in communicating political ideas. It is directed at liberal Democrats, but revolutionary socialists will find highly useful. The book is very practical and intelligently structured.

The first section lays the foundation for the rest of the book. It introduces the idea that all politics are moral and that conservatives and liberals have different views on the world; the con­ cept of frames and framing, which is ... Snowden (continued from page 5: “Victory! Lynne Stewart is free!”)

Snowden in return for a pledge that the remaining material would be returned with no further releases. But Obama’s na­ tional security adviser, Susan Rice, later nixed the idea.

Snowden, who is still pursuing perma­ nent residency in several countries, es­ pecially Brazil, and who is fully justified in his concern for a secure future, not to mention his life itself, has not rejected such a negotiated solution. There is no longer any doubt that he has deeply shak­ en the credibility of the U.S. on several critical fronts. The Snowden blowback daily plaguing government officials at ev­ ery level has compelled several agencies and top officials as well as the hierarchy in the now compromised telecommuni­ cations industry to at least pay lip service to token reform.

In the meantime, heads of state in Ger­ many and Brazil have sharply condemned defined as “structures and ideas that we use to understand the world (p.

6),” and cascades, which link the moral views and the frames together logically.

Lakoff and Wehling provide examples (both positive and negative, as well as from both conservative and liberal viewpoints), corrections to the mis­ takes made (by the left), and checklists of key points of each chapter, which are decidedly short to help keep the book practical.

The second section of the book deals with the conservative mindset (insert your own joke here. Then be aware that they have been beating us at this game—for how long?) This is impor­ tant to understand because if you can understand your opponent’s mind, you can better plan your actions against them. It also deals with the implica­ tions of the conservative mindset and the negative impact that they have on people, our communities, and our sta­ tus in the world.

The fourth section, which really should be read next, addresses a funda­ mental flaw that leftists often fall into— conservative ideas and language. This section shows where and how conser­ vative language has crept into common U.S. spy operations against them, includ­ ing NSA eavesdropping on their personal cell phone calls. Obama’s apologies not­ withstanding, the president refused to exclude all other German and Brazilian officials from U.S. spy operations. Weeks later, Snowden released a list of some 1000 top government and economic offi­ cials across the globe who have been U.S. targets, drawing additional outrage.

Nothing is safe from U.S. spy agencies. The Nov. 3 New York Times front-page headline, “No Morsel Too Minuscule For All-Consuming N.S.A.,” said it well. The article said: “From thousands of classi­ fied documents, [released by Snowden] the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip govern­ ment and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost se­ crecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks; the agency’s official mission list includes using its surveillance powers to achieve usage and suggests language to replace it. The key point of this section is that if we use the language of conservatives, we reinforce their ideas and, logically, undermine our own goals.

This section gives us a start with some suggestions. We will need to write our own language and define ourselves by our own ideas instead of by the ideas of the reactionaries. This is one “flaw” that I found in the book. It made more sense to me to read the fourth section before the third.

The third section, the longest and the meatiest of all three, ties the other sec­ tions together in a practical manner. La­ koff and Wehling provide examples on many general issues (democracy, the public, food, education, corporations and their rule, and economics) that we as revolutionary socialists need to use to bring change to the world.

Each chapter gives a short introduc­ tion to each topic, the conservative and liberal views, and then samples of talk­ ing points that the left can also use to advance its cause. With minor changes, these go from being Democratic talking points to revolutionary socialist ideas for action.

The sub-title of the book is “The es­ ‘diplomatic advantage’ over such allies France and Germany and ‘economic ad­ vantage’ over Japan and Brazil among other countries.”

When confronted with Snowden’s stark truths that almost daily strip away layer after layer of the carefully crafted veneer of civility attendant to U.S. government functioning, the best that its top officials can say is that U.S. spying is no different than what all other nations do as a matter of course—a truth from the mouth of the most accomplished spy nation on earth! Spying on every competitor is indeed the norm—the rule—in capitalism’s dog-eatdog world, where no means are excluded in the pursuit of profit and power. Mas­ sive surveillance is an inherent part of capitalism—as are war, racism, sexism, and austerity.

Perhaps Edward Snowden’s most im­ portant contribution to society’s wellbe­ ing is his exposure of the simple fact that the interests of the government (and the corporate powers that it represents) are qualitatively different from those of the people. sential guide to thinking and talking Democratic.” I made it a point of using a lower case “d” and taking the infor­ mation and talking points as a starting point for socialist discussion. While the Democrats like to use populist and sometimes seemingly radical language, they are not interested in changing the capitalist system that we struggle against. By following the examples giv­ en, we can develop these ideas into the tools to help the cause of revolution.

Another point to take notice of is that Frank Luntz makes it a point to read everything that Professor Lakoff writes because he understands that it works. Luntz is the man that has engineered many Republican policy coups and election campaigns. If he is such a fan of Professor Lakoff, it would be wise for us to take heed.

As revolutionary socialists we need to get our message out, and “The Little Blue Book” is an essential tool in our toolbox. By using the ideas in this book we will be better able to reach out to people who are sympathetic to our goals and program, plant seeds in the minds of the fence sitters, and better defend against the reactionaries. At $11 ($13 Canadian), it is highly affordable and will help us in revolutionary action when the people finally get sick of the ruling regime. n O bama’s National Security State Exposed — The Meaning of the Edward Snowden Leaks A Socialist Action pamphlet by Jeff Mackler $3 (plus $1 postage)

Send to P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Snowden is entirely correct when he states that on this front he had already won. He has opened the eyes of millions everywhere and made a profound con­ tribution in helping to close the gap be­ tween the anger and frustration that mil­ lions harbor against an oppressive social system and their present reticence to or­ ganize to dismantle it in favor of a social order in which the majority truly rule for the benefit of all. n

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