Thinking Clearly, Speaking Out

Dear Rockridge Nation,

Think about framing

The Weekly Workgroups are living up to their promise: using your Ask Rockridge questions as the basis of a shared investigation and building our understanding. This week's topic, Challenging Welfare Stereotypes, continues, with Eric Haas at the helm, assisted by RI intern Adam Schaffer.

On Monday, we begin a new conversation, about education and a progressive perspective on home schooling. The success of these discussions is yours, and the growing group who are thinking along with us. Come take a look and join the conversation.

Growing a coalition to focus on health care and not health insurance

Eric Haas is in San Diego, speaking to the annual meeting of the Group on Institutional Advancement of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). These folks, responsible for public relations and government affairs at the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals, are deeply interested in our contribution to changing health policy. They are the people whose commitment and understanding are essential to a profound and lasting change in health policy.

Your support makes it possible. You allow us to develop a cognitive policy, promote our thinking and then talk directly to the people whose understanding is essential to a profound and lasting change. Now take a moment and make a material -- and essential -- contribution.

Growing a cognitive policy for a greener climate

Joe Brewer's major contribution of the last weeks is a major new work: Comparing Climate Proposals: A Case Study in Cognitive Policy in our new climate initiative. This is only the beginning, and shows how the promise of the health initiative, Don't Think of a Sick Child, can be applied to an ever widening area of the public debate.

Thinking Clearly, Speaking Out

Eric Haas was interviewed for WUSB-FM 90.1 Stony Brook's "End of the Empire Report" -- introducing ideas of framing and cognitive policy to yet another audience. Every time we make these ideas more familiar, we take a step towards putting the common back in common sense. You can listen here.

George Lakoff is on NPR today, twice! On Day to Day, George brings a linguistics perspective to recent widely reported comments by Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Listen to the audio for this story -- Misspeaking about 'Misspeak'.

For Talk of the Nation, the topic is the different ways conservatives and progressives talk about politics. Listen to the audio for this story -- When Did You First Become Political? -- here.

Talk to us!

Send a little energy our way today: tell us about your experiences in reframing discussions and moving towards progressive solutions in the comments below. That will help the fellows, and all of us at the Institute and in Rockridge Nation, to keep thinking, teaching, and spreading the word. Then build a better world with us: invest in our combined futures.

Sherry Reson
Dir. of Public Affairs
The Rockridge Institute