As public opinion begins – just begins, mind you – to turn against America’s ruling oligarchy, it seems like a good time to raise questions about a convention that contributes to what is now one of the most rigid class systems in the West: the dubious habit of awarding elected officials with the honorific, “Honorable” and other superlative indicators of their privilege.

The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was an all-out battle, at times tougher than combat. Military Veterans and Political Lobbyists, College Professors and Grassroots Organizers pushed the government in such a way that the issue could not be ignored, but that did not mean the coalition or the struggle was an easy one. We all learned many tough lessons about research, messaging, politics, and perseverance. The roller coaster of DADT repeal is brought to life from “the foxhole” perspective of Dr. Aaron Belkin of the Palm Center (formerly known as the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military) who has the deserved distinction and title: The Professor of The Movement.

Progressives need a fundamentally new approach to politics. They have been losing not just because conservatives have so much more money and power, but also because they have accepted the conservatives’ framing of political debates. They have accepted a framing where conservatives want market outcomes whereas liberals want the government to intervene to bring about outcomes that they consider fair.

David Wittman’s (aka DJ Dave) popular video, “Whole Foods Parking Lot,” is a hilarious send-up of some of the apparent moral contradictions of participants in today’s postmodern counter-culture. It’s a counter-culture only in the sense that it has more to do with the checkout counter than it does any challenge to the culture at large. Hell, it is the culture at large.

The message that we as a people can be better, that we can use our government to help achieve that — and that the best part of ourselves demands that we try — is one that transcends this election cycle and the next one. There’s a longer game to be played here, and all of us need to be part of it.

Democrats have rediscovered the joys of “Who’s on your side?” rhetoric. As far as actually being on our side, well…

Stories are impossible, but it’s impossible to live without them. That’s the mess I’m in. –Filmmaker Wim Wenders Progressive storytellers looking to advance transformational change have a problem. The problem is melodrama, our culture’s dominant mode of story. A virtuous hero overcomes obstacles and saves an innocent victim from an evil villain. Melodrama is fundamentally [...]

It’s character that matters in our political narratives. It’s through character that others judge us, and it’s through character our values are expressed.

Who should be speaking out strongly on Global Warming’s impacts? On the relationship of Global Warming to mounting storm and other threats to the nation? Who should lead the discussion about how federal flood policy has increased vulnerability to storms? Who should undertake the challenge of communicating how storms (worsened by Global Warming’s impact) threaten offshore energy infrastructure? If you answered “environmentalists”, Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense would say that you’re wrong. Guess what Fred … you’re wrong. And recklessly so.

George Lakoff wants to give to truth all the advantages that propagandists have bestowed upon the lie.