Lakoff: What The President Can Accomplish With His SOTU

George Lakoff, as always, has good ideas about how Barack Obama can harness power of the pulpit–bully and otherwise-that comes with the presidency, to make a difference.

The president has material power without the Congress, and personally, I would like to see him use it. He could issue an executive order for the government to grant contracts only to companies that pay their workers above some higher minimum wage. Or he could reject the XL pipeline on two national security grounds: its contribution to global warming and the dangers of leaks, explosions; and he could stop the virtual pipeline of dangerous tar sands and fracked oil shipments by train and waterway by insisting immediately on safe puncture-proof tanks. He could direct federal agencies to monitor and control dangerous chemical use and storage to prevent future versions the Great West Virginia Water Disaster.

But the president can also use cognitive power, the power of persuasion, to introduce ideas to begin to change the way people think.

…The absence, or weakening, of unions leads to Wage Slavery: take what you are offered or someone else will. The president needs to talk about Wage Slavery and how unions offer freedom from wage slavery. This is a crucial idea missing from public discourse, especially in states where conservatives are trying to legislate wage slavery via so-called “Right to work laws,” which are actually exploitation laws. The president should be talking regularly about how unions contribute to freedom — and getting the unions themselves to talk about it. If the idea isn’t mentioned, it won’t enter the public mind.

Next, pensions. Pensions are delayed payments for work already done. Say it, Mr. President. When pensions are cut, the wages already earned by workers are being stolen. Pension funds are often taken by companies and local governments and spent on other things. That is theft. There needs to be transparency — public reporting yearly — on what is being done with pension funds. The president could issue and executive order that any company, state, or municipality receiving money from the government must adopt the transparency principle for pension funds.

The president can also use cognitive power to talk about the environment, the poisons we put in our body and even how so many pro football players are brain damaged because of concussions they’ve suffered. Tuesday night is a wonderful opportunity for President Obama to combine both his material and cognitive powers.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.