For several months I have, not so secretly, wondered how to help others get out of this neo-federalist thought process that both parties are stuck in. I feel strongly about the revival of a more pure and historical constructionist view of the constitution needing to take root.

The problem is that it took me years (3-10) of reading and studying history to finally be open to the possibility that the reality be presented and the arguments being made in our current political paradigm are a result of, for the lack of a better term, us having lost our way.

All that said, Blackburn, Jason, and myself were on the way back from lunch today, and we were talking about politics when Jason brought up a principle or study he had heard of that basically goes like this: New concepts, to which someone has little or no reference point, take time to introduce or else the person will think they are either silly or misguided and will dismiss them out of hand.

Does anyone know what this principle is called? I'm sure this principle is covered in a freshman philosophy class, but for the life of me I can't seem to pin it down.

I am kind of working with these keywords: conceptual change pedagogy and knowledge reconstruction

Please, someone fill me in. I really would like to understand this concept a bit better.