The problem with progressives is that they don't have their shit together anymore. They just rely on "the facts will set you free"... And in a way, it makes sense to think that at first. If people were to look at the reality of things, they'd see it the liberal way. Like Stephen Colbert said, reality has a liberal bias (most of what he says is stupid, but that one statement was really well-placed).
What does that mean? Well, for one thing, that means conservatives can't rely on reality... so they got their shit together. They have billion-dollar think tanks, designed to morph the language in their favour. That's where "Tax Relief" came from. "Tax cuts" makes it too obvious that it's basically cutting funding for various social services. Ah, but Tax Relief makes it look like taxes are our enemy, and we need to get rid of them.
After enough of this, it's easy to see why it is that these days, "liberals" is equated with "fucking hippies" and "conservatives" are equated with "family values, etc." Yet, if you look it up in the dictionary, it's more true that "conservative" means afraid of change, and more or less stuck in the middle ages, while "liberal" means open-minded and forward-thinking. It's called "Framing", and you can read about it in Lakoff's excellent book, "Don't Think of an Elephant".
The only way liberals will ever get back the ground they lost is to start framing the debate themselves. Instead, they are sabotaging themselves by using language that was designed against them. A liberal debator who talks about abortion and uses the term "pro-life" (say, instead of anti-choice) has already lost.
The other thing the conservatives are doing really well is a semblance of union. Liberals seem to be all over the place, don't they? Some are more strongly in favour of some things, but not others, and it's just a big mess. The truth is, conservatives are the same way. They just hide it better. How? Well, the politicians have meetings where they discuss where they all stand, and they use a "majority rules" vote to determine what they will claim to support and not support. The idea is, instead of bickering over the little things, they agree over a big picture, general direction, and stick by it even if they disagree with piece of it. This gives a much better illusion of unity, and generally having their shit together. Progressives need to start doing that kind of thing too. Until they realize this, they will always lag behind the conservatives.
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