Talking in moral terms

Obama is back on the road defending his Affordable Care Act. That's while the GOP House voted to overturn the law. It is something like the 37th vote to do that. Not like they have anything else to do.

George Lakoff is a professor of Linguistics at University of California-Berkeley. He's noticed Obama and the GOP talk about the law in quite different ways. Obama talks about pragmatic things the law does. The GOP talks about morals. Lakoff said on NPR today:

Basically ... they say that democracy is about liberty, the liberty to pursue your own self-interest without you having to take care of anybody else's interests or anybody else having to take care of yours.

Which is the opposite of community. That's a pretty scary view of liberty. It throws "my brother's keeper" right out the window. What about those who simply can't manage their interests at the moment? Or what about those whose interests are the opposite of your own?

At the moment the GOP appears to be winning the argument. Obama could talk about the law in moral terms. But he isn't. Lakoff says Obama could say:

Health care is about life itself, about living a decent life, about living free from fear, and also free from economic fear. Fear of losing your home because you have to pay out of pocket for operations that really ought to be paid for by having healthcare insurance.