Comparing Climate Proposals - A Case Study in Cognitive Policy

Summary

Joe Brewer and George Lakoff compare two 2008 climate proposals that look alike. Every policy has a material side and a cognitive side: “the values and ideas” that must be “uppermost in the minds of the public” for it to feel like common sense. Lieberman-Warner reads as a “hidden tax”; Cap and Dividend teaches that “we all own the air”.

Rationale

Deep dispositions make some ideas feel self-evident. Cap and Dividend shows a policy doing the same: a dividend arriving every month teaches people what to take for granted.

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