"George Lakoff, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley" (Common Dreams) still provides the kind of language and concepts for Progressive Persuasion.
It's just amazing that the same advice we needed in 2004, in the aftermath of the 2004 election, with all its anomalies and questionable results, and politics of distortion, we are now getting from George Lakoff, once again, in the aftermath of the Tea Party's influence on the last election and, perhaps even worse, that of the impact of Citizens United on our electoral process and rightward trending. See Common Dreams, "The “New Centrism” and Its Discontents"
by George Lakoff http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/25-0
To George Lakoff, of Rockridge Institute fame and author of "Don't Think of an Elephant", language does matter, and when Progressives package themselves as Conservatives they hand victory to the right. Heed, George Lakoff, we should!
"...progressives have to organize around a single morality, centered on empathy, both personal and social responsibility, and excellence - being the best person you can be, not just for your own sake, but for the sake of you family, community, and nation. All politics is moral; it is about the right things to do. Get your morality straight, learn to talk about it, then work on policy. It is patriotic to be progressive."
His advice is quite similar to that of the Network for Spiritual Progressives and Rabbi Michael Lerner (The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right ) See http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/
OK, so let's stay focused and never give up on ourselves, passionate progressive patriots that we are, as a counterweight to the rightward tilt in this country. Not to despair!! Focus on: empathy, both personal and social responsibility, and excellence Back to language and conceptual basics, under the tutelage of thinkers like George Lakoff and Rabbi Michael Lerner.
