Editing Moral Politics (section)

=== Second edition ===

The book's subtitle changed between the first and the current edition. Previously titled ''Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know That Liberals Don't'', it has been rechristened ''Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think''.

The original subtitle reflected Lakoff's idea that conservatives, at least 1994 conservatives, understood the nature of American politics better than liberals. In particular, he felt conservatives better understood the metaphorical connection between the family, morality and politics; and, especially around 1994, were able to gain votes by using persuasive metaphors, whilst liberals employed logic and reason. Within this framework, the original subtitle can be seen as a call-to-arms to liberals to gain understanding of how people actually think about politics, or face growing electoral irrelevance.

The bulk of the second edition text is identical to that of the first. All that is added is a second edition preface, and a 37-page afterword relating the book's content to the 2000 US presidential election.