FAFO*: America’s Republican Base Is About to Have a Teachable Moment

It’s gonna hurt, a lot

Angry, impoverished American citizens line up for food during the Great Depression. Can’t happen again? Source: Library of Congress.

Recently, I got into a little back-and-forth with a fellow named Gil Duran over at the FrameLab Substack. FrameLab is a site is devoted to the work of George Lakoff, a giant in the field of linguistics, whose research has focused on how our brains use metaphors and mental models, which he calls frames, to understand the world around us. Lakoff defines frames as:

“… mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result, they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act, and what counts as a good or bad outcome of our actions.” (source, p. 10)

Lakoff believes that with regard to politics there are two basic frames through which Americans view the political world. Both are metaphorical, both employ the metaphor of the family, and both are grounded in a set of distinct moral principles. Conservatives tend to view the political world through a lens Lakoff calls Strict Father morality, which emphasizes the virtues of hierarchical order, respect for authority, obedience, and punishment for stepping out of line. Liberals, in contrast, tend to view politics more in terms of Nurturant Parent morality, which emphasizes values such as empathy, fairness, personal responsibility, and protecting the family from a dangerous…