It's not that nobody's ever thought of it before....I've just suddenly understood how it changes the whole game of politics; why we've been losing for years...and what we have to do to gain the advantage.
We have to RE-FRAME the debate.
I was talking to a Candidate for California Governor the other night (no, seriously), and I said that the way to handle the "immigration" problem is to offer to give illegal Mexican aliens everything they want in America, as long as all Americans who cross into Mexico get exactly the same rights and privileges.
The bemused look on his face, and his answer...."I don't really think any Americans want to move to Mexico and live under their Socialist government..." made it clear that he did not grasp the significance of my suggestion.
I later took the opportunity to clarify, and this is what I told him:
Right now the Immigration debate is implicitly (and sometimes explicitly):
Should poor, hard-working, little brown people, who are just looking for a chance to improve their lives and that of their children be allowed to enter the Land of Milk & Honey—OR—should greedy, Rich, White Americans keep it all to themselves, consigning the poor, hapless, helpless little brown people and their babies to lives of want and misery
This is the debate as we are having right now. And generally we answer this emotional appeal with references to "THE RULE OF LAW".
Wow. Any surprise we're being characterized as greedy, heartless racists?
It's time to RE-FRAME the debate.
It's time we say,
"Sure, we totally agree that your poor little illegal aliens can have all the rights and privileges of citizenship in America—AS LONG AS—you reciprocate, and give any American who wishes to enter Mexico, the exact same rights and privileges: Automatic citizenship and all it implies, including the right to own businesses, own Mexican real estate, and the RIGHT TO VOTE in Mexican elections."
(Millions of American retirees on fixed incomes would happily retire to warm tropical Mexico...especially with the typical exchange rate.)
Of course, they can't agree to this FAIR DEAL, because they understand that to do so would be to destroy their culture, of which they are extremely protective—which is explicit in Mexico's immigration laws and policies.
Meanwhile, the question will be hanging out there. The conversation will have been changed. Any attempt to revive the old debate will elicit from us total agreement with their point of view...as long as... Mexico is willing to do what they are demanding of America.
Mexico (and Mexicans) will never agree, and they will be exposed for what they are: nothing more than aggressive, foreign invaders who have no compunction about undermining our society and destroying our culture, while remaining fervently jealous and protective of their own.
The point is that we must hoist the Left on its own petard...Re-Frame the debate, change the dynamic of every conversation....never play on a field they've built....to their own advantage.
Saul Alinksy was the master of this, and the Left has learned the lesson well. It's time we learned it too, and make every Liberal issue's "talking points" useless - because we've completely changed the rules, and moved the road.
The Gunslinger
(Re-Framer)
That's an excellent idea. Did the Candidate you were talking to like it once you had explained it to him?
ReplyDeleteYou know, there are a lot of questions hanging out there. One question is...who will get in the re-framing game? If you don't get in the game, you can't win, and if you don't get in the game, you can't lose. Too many people on the outside looking in, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteMystery Man: I communicated it to him later via email. I didn't have time to explain it all at the time.
ReplyDeleteHe has not responded.
His "bemusement" might have been a sign of more than momentary confusion...