The word “values” has taken on a great deal of importance in recent years. It has been used to explain the ascendancy of conservative politics in America over the past several decades and as the defining issue of the 2004 presidential election. It has been held up as the key to effective framing, and repeated ad nauseum by pundits and politicians who seem intent on stripping it of all meaning. Values are, of course, much more than the communications buzzword of this political moment. They are also much less than the silver bullet that some of the more vocal advocates of framing would have you believe. Values are the morals that underly the stories we tell each other about ourselves as Americans. They have a great deal to say about what we consider most important, most valuable, in our own lives and in our society. They help to explain not only who we are, but how we see ourselves.
Understanding how values have shaped our history, our politics, and our society can be immensely useful as we work to convince our fellow Americans of the justness of the causes for which we are fighting. Many progressive communicators have accepted the idea that facts and figures,—that merely being right— will not change minds. We must convince on a much deeper level. Telling our stories—connecting our work with a set of American values shared by individuals from across the political spectrum, and defining the issues that we care about in terms of those values—can be a first step toward winning the support of people who might never have considered it otherwise. Evoking these shared values is about more than scoring political victories though. As advocates and communicators, we have a responsibility to define our vision for our society: What is it that is good in America, what should be nurtured and preserved? What must change if we are to live up to the high ideals of this nation’s founding? And how can we get there? Americans are a deeply optimistic people, and they are hungry for a positive vision for the country’s future, free from the fear and division that have marred our politics in recent years. They know the country is headed in the wrong direction (just ask the pollsters), and are ready to support the real changes we’re advocating, if we’ll only explain those changes in terms of the values we share. Next Section>>