[cross-posted from Frameshop -JF]
ALERT
The following phrase is being used in the latest White House effort to destroy Social Security:
"it's your money"
The White House wants to use this phrase to define Social Security in dishonest terms.
Do not repeat this phrase.
Instead, counter with this Progressive frame:
Progressive Social Security Frame
We believe that Americans who work hard and play by the rules deserve a retirement protected by their government.
Social Security is a successful social program that helps millions of Americans.
Social Security will thrive in a healthy economy and can be maintained by: (1) lifting caps on payroll contribution, (2) restoring fiscal discipline and (3) investing in education and innovation.
To advance this Progressive frame
repeat these phrases:
- We believe all Americans deserve the protection of Social Security
- Social Security is Healthy
- Social Security is Successful
IMMEDIATE ACTION: Learn to counter the Conservative language by evoking a
Progressive view of Moral Self Interest.
Frameshop is open.
The Container in Frame
In the Conservative worldview, all actions or conditions that prevent the absolute pursuit of self-interest are immoral. Social programs are immoral for precisely this reason. Conservatives see social programs not as an act of care, but as a form of endorsement for people who cannot help themselves.
But how does the phrase "it's your money" invoke this Conservative view of moral self-interst? By introducing a container metaphor.
What is a container metaphor?
A container metaphor is a way of talking about abstract quantities as if they were contained in concrete devices. This is one way to help people visualize exactly what the abstraction concept is.
A good example of a container metaphor as applied to Social Security was Al Gore's phrase "lock box." By saying that he was going to put Social Security in a "lock box," Gore was inviting the public to visualize Social Security as if it were a pile of unprotected money that he was going to protect by putting it in a safe container. Once locked, the money would be protected, which invoked the core Progressive value of Responsibility. If Gore didn't sound so goofy saying "lock box," this strategy would have probably worked. But he did sound goofy, and we need to ask if this will every work in the future.
There are new signs that it won't.
The latest Conservative phrase "it's your money," used by Andrew Card on his latest round of Sunday talk shows, and I suspect by many other White House officials in the weeks to come, invokes a different container metaphor, but this time to evoke a powerful Conservative value of self-interest.
The phrase "it's your money" is short hand for "it's your money, you put it in Social Security, and so you should be able to get it back." It's a phrase that describes Social Security contributions as if they were trapped inside a container being guarded by the Federal government.
Moral people, in this worldview, sense that having "their money" kept from them is an immoral condition. To take back "your money" is to return the situation to a moral good. To leave "your money" "inside" the container of social security is to perpetuate an immoral situation.
Conservative moral self interest is all about quantifying what is ours, and controlling that quantity at all times.
Now, don't make the mistake of thinking that Progressives don't also believe in moral self interest. They do. They just see it differently.
The key difference is that in the Progressive worldview, moral self interest is subservient to other morals, such as responsibility, fairness, and responsibility. We need to take care of ourselves in order to be able to take care of others.
A Conservative becomes a doctor to make money. A Progressive becomes a doctor to help others. Both are acts of self-interest, but they unfold in very different worldviews and with different consequences
The same principle can be applied to business, or to be more specific to our situation, to banking.
The difference between a Conservative banking industry and a Progressive banking industry can be difficult to see in our current situation.
So to get a clearer picture of this, let's go back to Frank Capra's vision of these two systems clashing in his film It's a Wonderful Life.
"Have you forgotten?"
I love this movie, and it plays over and over on television during the holiday season. So it's a good source to draw on to illustrate our point.
The big struggle in the movie is between George Baily (Jimmy Stewart) and Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore). Potter is a slumloard who seeks financial control of the whole town. Bailey runs a small savings and loan that is the last hold-out against potter--the last banker to the powerless who is constantly fending off the aggressive advances of Potter, who has corrupted the bank, and has contempt for the townspeople who work for a living .
When the markets crash, there is a run on the banks, and George comes to the Savings and Loan, pushes his way through the crowd and attempts to satisfy their cries to get back "their money."
Here's the scene that ensues in its entirety. I give it to you whole because it is so poignant at this time:
Scene from It's a Wonderful Life (Directed by Frank Capra, 1946)
[INTERIOR OUTER OFFICE -- BUILDING AND LOAN -- DAY
MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT -- More people have crowded around the counter. Their muttering stops and they stand silent and grim. There is panic in their faces.]
GEORGE: Now, just remember that this thing isn't as black as it appears.
[As George speaks, sirens are heard passing in the street below. The crowd turn to the windows, then back to George.]
GEORGE (cont'd): I have some news for you, folks. I've just talked to old man Potter, and he's guaranteed cash payments at the bank. The bank's going to reopen next week.
ED: But, George, I got my money here.
CHARLIE: Did he guarantee this place?
GEORGE: Well, no, Charlie. I didn't even ask him. We don't need Potter over here.
[Mary and Ernie have come into the room during this scene. Mary stands watching silently.]
CHARLIE: I'll take mine now.
GEORGE: No, but you . . . you . . . you're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money's in Joe's house . . .[to one of the men]. . . right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?
TOM: I got two hundred and forty-two dollars in here, and two hundred and forty-two dollars isn't going to break anybody.
[MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT -- ANOTHER ANGLE]
GEORGE (handing him a slip): Okay, Tom. All right. Here you are. You sign this. You'll get your money in sixty days.
TOM: Sixty days?
GEORGE: Well, now that's what you agreed to when you bought your shares.
[There is a commotion at the outer doors. A man (Randall) comes in and makes his way up to Tom.]
RANDALL: Tom . . . Tom, did you get your money?
TOM: No.
RANDALL: Well, I did. Old man Potter'll pay fifty cents on the dollar for every share you got.
(shows bills)
CROWD (ad lib): Fifty cents on the dollar!
RANDALL: Yes, cash!
TOM (to George): Well, what do you say?
GEORGE: Now, Tom, you have to stick to your original agreement. Now give us sixty days on this.
TOM (turning to Randall): Okay, Randall.
[He starts out.]
MRS. THOMPSON: Are you going to go to Potter's?
TOM: Better to get half than nothing.
[A few other people start for the door. CAMERA PANS WITH George as he vaults over the counter quickly, speaking to the people.]
GEORGE: Tom! Tom! Randall! Now wait . . . now listen . . . now listen to me. I beg of you not to do this thing. If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan there'll never be another decent house built in this town. He's already got charge of the bank. He's got the bus line. He's got the department stores. And now he's after us. Why? Well, it's very simple. Because we're cutting in on his business, that's why. And because he wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he
decides.
[The people are still trying to get out, but some of them have stood still, listening to him. George has begun to make an impression on them.]
GEORGE (cont'd): Joe, you lived in one of his houses, didn't you? Well, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten what he charged you for that broken-down shack?
[to Ed]
Here, Ed. You know, you remember last year when things weren't going so well, and you couldn't make your payments. You didn't lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it?
[turns to address the room again]
Can't you understand what's happening here? Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's picking up some bargains. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other.
We see so clearly in this scene that the Conservative view of banking is to convince people that their money is actually "in" the bank--and to do this convincing particularly at times of crisis.
The Progressive view of business as advanced by George is that our money, while it is conceptually in the bank, is in fact invested in projects that help build the community.
Why do we invest in projects to help build the community? To band together as a society to prevent Conservative bankers from reducing the quality of our lives, from confining us to poor living conditions, and to extinguishing our hope.
It is precisely in times of financial crisis that the Conservative container metaphor appears with a vengeance.
But George reminds the crowd--and I would say that he is also reminding us--that Potter isn't selling when he offers to give us our money back. Potter is really buying.
"We've got to stick together," George tells us. "We've got to have faith in each other."
Bush isn't giving money away, he's taking it
This is the lesson of the "it's your money" phrase. Bush isn't giving money away, he's taking it. And he's taking much more than money.
He's extinguishing people's faith in each other, while claiming to promote faith in Christ.
He's taking civil rights, while claiming to protect the Constitution.
He's taking the lives our children, while claiming to spread democracy.
While we continue to push our frame for Social Security, Frameshop now turns to the task of reclaiming a Progressive view of moral self-interest.
Let's get to work...