At Cognitive Policy Works we realize that people everywhere need help thinking through the issues that matter most to them. This is why we tailor our services to allow atypical clients to be served. While high-powered consultants shape the elite politics in Washington D.C., there is little assistance for the progressive activist in small-town America.
This article is republished from Campaign for America’s Future. It has also appeared on Truthout and Alternet. There are dangerous currents running through America’s politics and the way we confront them is crucial. All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate [...]
Changing our politics will involve significant shifts in political – and interpersonal – culture. This may seem like a truism, yet it is common practice among progressive “political junkies” to place nearly all their attention on electoral campaigns and legislative battles. The assumption seems to be that if only we get more of our people [...]
In the wake of my recent post in the progressive blogosphere, I find myself thinking a lot about cynicism. The article, “Now What? A Cautionary Note, and an Invitation, to Progressives”, appeared on Truthout.com, outlining the inevitability of letdown after victory, and the need to shift the progressive group identity from underdog to agent of [...]
We are bound to make the world in our own image. So we had better be sure we have the right values in mind as we think about our selves in this historic transition. The current economic crisis is causing a massive redistribution of wealth across society. With a newfound capacity to shape our nation’s [...]
Exploring the psychology of social change reveals warning signs and opportunities for progressives as Obama takes power. Now that progressives have attained their goal of electing Barack Obama president and established the presence of a political mandate for change and, putatively, progressive ideas, what can we expect will happen next? What do we now need [...]
Judith Warner’s recent post to her New York Times column Domestic Disturbances has raised some interesting issues about psychological reactions to the Obamas on the part of some Americans. In her Feb 5 column, “Sometimes a President Is Just a President”, she discusses the “dreams and obsessions” about the Obama family that an admittedly nonscientific sample [...]
Politics in the 21st Century will be based on new understandings of what it means to be human. Cutting-edge research in the cognitive and behavioral sciences has much to offer in helping reveal how political behavior works. The progressive movement can benefit greatly from these insights by investing in a cognitive infrastructure – the ideas, [...]
For too long, the politics of manipulation and deceit have shaped our shared destiny. For decades, cutting-edge knowledge from psychology and related fields has been used by marketing and public relations firms for private gain and to the detriment of the public. In tandem with a cadre of conservative think tanks and political pundits, these [...]
