Assignment Task:
For good or ill, our presidents are reflections of the people who put them in office. All of us, not just those who cast their lot behind her or him.
Our national culture likes to view itself as strong and virtuous while being kind and caring. The image in the mirror is often something else entirely. Recent elections show [people in our state] to be not much different from the rest of the country.
From violence and guns to health care and education, our values are often reflected in our parenting styles. And our presidents are nothing if not parent figures to the nation as a whole.
One explanation of how parenting translates to politics comes from George Lakoff, professor of Cognitive Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. He says we embrace two competing models of parenting that can be transferred pretty much wholesale to our political preferences.
According to Lakoff, these two basic models of parenting can be labeled the "strict father" model and the "nurturant parent" model. Though we have both frames in our minds, one framework or understanding usually dominates. The linguist in Lakoff says either framework can be activated through language.
Strict father
The strict father model views the world as a dangerous place that needs to be controlled. This model sees the world in black and white: absolute good vs. absolute evil.
The strict father becomes the arbiter of morality. Strong discipline becomes the tool through which children are taught the difference between right and wrong. Success is seen in black-and-white terms, as well. The child either becomes successful or not, as defined by the father's values. Success is often measured in monetary terms because you either have it or you don't.
Success, according to the strict father frame, is also synonymous with behaving morally and acting in one's own self-interest. This mirrors free-market thinking that believes the pursuit of self-interest leads to everyone's interests being maximized. Therefore, a good and moral person acts in their own self-interest.
Nurturant parent
The nurturant parent model, on the other hand, emphasizes empathy and mutual responsibility. A shades-of-grey view of the world, if you will. The strict father model is masculine; this model is gender neutral.
Those who adhere to this frame of understanding grasp that the role of parents is to nurture the inherent goodness within their children through providing protection rather than teaching them to fight back. It shows them how to lead a fulfilled life rather than focusing on monetary outcomes, and it models empathy and care for others.
These models produce quite different perspectives when applied to relationships between the parent and child, as well as between the state and its citizens. State policies created to serve people begin to resemble either the caring, nurturing, helping parent or the punishing, mean, judgmental parent on the other.
Who are we?
Lakoff explains that adherents to the strict father framework see social programs - Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and any form of welfare or subsidized healthcare - as immoral because they "give people things they have not earned," and make them dependent.
This discourages them from using their own internal discipline to become successful. Education is often seen as an unearned privilege, as well. Dismantling these undeserved programs is a priority for strict fathers.
The nurturant parent model diverges from this by understanding social programs as being inherently positive and morally good because they provide care for those who need support and foster fairness and equality in society. Thus, the nurturing parent believes all these programs should be expanded until fairness and equality is achieved in all sectors of humanity.
Both sides see the need for prisons, law enforcement, and military in some form. However, they view the uses differently. These are instruments of society used punitively by the strict father wielding absolute power. Conversely, they are used in transformative ways by the nurturing parent who shares power with others.
In the end, we are divided not by state lines or party lines, but by whether we see the inherent good and deservedness of all humanity reflected in our leaders.
What do you think of Lakoff's idea that the so-called 'strict father' and 'nurturing parent' models are a key feature in segments of American political ideologies? To what degree do you see them as accurate or not?
How do Lakoff's models fit with the ideals that have been previously discussed such as natural rights, liberty, justice, democracy, the status quo/radical approaches to politics, and so on?
Using examples, can you identify ways that these models play out in our society?