NPI's 2010 Spring Fundraising Gala is just two weeks away... Buy tickets today!

Progressives know that they have to make investments in media. What they tend not to know is that they have to make investments in framing and in language. The big advantage we have is this: Whereas it took more than thirty years, billions of dollars, and forty-three institutes for conservatives to reframe public debate so the debate occurs on their turf, we have the advantage of having science on our side. Through cognitive science and through linguistics, we know how they did it. And we know how we can do the equivalent for progressives in a much shorter time and with many fewer resources.

- George Lakoff, Don't Think of An Elephant

For far too long, progressives have been debating America's challenges with conservatives on the right wing's turf, because we lack the ideas and frames we need to clearly articulate our values.

No one has diagnosed the difficulties we face more accurately than George Lakoff, who has written several books about the political mind.

Acquiring an appreciation for cognitive science by reading Lakoff's works is one thing. As anyone who has tried knows, it is much, much harder to actually put the lessons those works contain into practice.

That's because reframing simply isn't easy: it's an art that takes patience and persistence to master. But it is critically important. To think proactively, we have to know what our values, principles, and policy directions are, and we have to be able to explain our vision concisely and quickly to biconceptuals (people who use both the conservative and progressive moral systems in different areas of their politics). It's not enough merely to understand what we are fighting against.

To master the art of reframing, we progressives have to build centers of political thought, to hone ideas, refine frames, and train activists. NPI is such a center; one of the very few that our movement has. Unlike most think tanks, however, NPI started out with nothing: no angel investors, no office building, no assets of any kind. NPI itself was an idea. Now it's something more: it's a Swiss Army knife for the progressive movement in the Pacific Northwest.

Considering that we started with no resources, what we've built at NPI to date is pretty amazing. But it's only the beginning. With your support, we can expand the scope of our work and become much stronger.

That's why, in exactly two weeks, we're holding our second Spring Fundraising Gala.

We want to not only give you an opportunity to support us, we want you to have a good time. That's why we're putting on a gala instead of doing a fundraising drive. That would simpler and easier to organize, but let's face it, it's not as much fun. This event is your chance to come and enjoy some great food, network with fellow progressives, learn about what we're doing firsthand, and hear speakers like John de Graaf, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Suzan DelBene, Gael Tarleton, and State Representative Hans Dunshee (the architect of the Jobs Act of 2010).

We strongly encourage you to secure your tickets for the gala now... space at this event will be limited and we can't guarantee last-minute availability.

There are two rates available: Individual ($45) and Household ($75).

The latter is easily the better value for any family. The household rate was rather popular at our first gala, and we're happy to be able to offer it again.

Use this button to buy a ticket at the individual rate:

Or, use this button to buy a ticket at the household rate:

We hope to have the pleasure of seeing you on June 9th!