George Lakoff, professor of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has figured out how “what was considered extreme just a decade ago [has become] national policy.” And he’s written about it in his book, Don’t Think of an Elephant!

Lakoff’s research in cognitive linguistics has shown how human goals, behavior, and actions are shaped by “frames,” which he defines as “mental structures that shape the way we see the world.” Consequently, “in politics, our frames shape our social policies and the institutions we form to carry out policies.” Lakoff explains,

“You can’t see or hear frames. They are part of what cognitive scientists call the ‘cognitive unconscious’ – structures in our brains that we cannot consciously access, but know by their consequences: the way we reason and what counts as common sense. We also know frame through language. When you hear a word, its frame (or collection of frames) is activated in your brain.”

Lakoff believes in the tie between language and politics: whoever controls language controls politics. He contends that the specific words people use to communicate, and the framing they use, are crucial to the future of the nation: the language used in American politics is a precision tool which shapes our political future.

The idea that language and politics shape each other is not new: George Orwell explored this theme in his novel, 1984, and in essays such as “Politics and the English Language,” as does William Safire in his weekly column, “On Language,” for The New York Times.