Framing that Aims to Lose: Reinforcing the Partisan Divide despite agreement on Civil Asset Forfeiture

By Stephen, 21 July, 2017

If conservatives believe one thing, it’s that government shouldn’t be able to take your property arbitrarily. At least, that was when conservatives believed in something.
Robert Reich, a post going to thousands of progressives, on civil forfeiture.

This act by the Trump administration is a moment when conservatives distrustful of government just might be ready to have had enough.

And this is how our progressive leaders teach us to converse: to assume the worst right from the beginning, to reinforce and remind and conservatives that we are on two teams and our team just scored a point, pushing them to try to score back. With absolutely no chance at an invitation to individual conservatives who actually do believe in something.

If you wonder why most Trump voters — remember how unpopular he was with half of them — are still holding on, this is your answer. We are giving them no place to go. There is no invitation.

This is a good moment to ask conservatives in your life who agree on this issue to write a letter to congress together. The act of standing together is the core action to unravel anger politics.

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