It's Important to Own a Dictionary

When we have a national discussion, it helps to have a common vocabulary. Luckily, here in the United States, we long ago agreed on a common language. No, not “American.” It’s called “English,” because as some people seem to have forgotten, everyone in this country is from somewhere else (hey, even the Native Americans came across the land bridge.) Yes, just a few hundred years ago, those English border jumpers crossed the Atlantic to steal jobs and land from the real Americans, the Native Americans. Then some Dutch came to steal the English jobs, and then the Italians to steal theirs. Oh, and the Spanish were here too. It was the English language that won out, though, and since then we’ve agreed on a common vocabulary and meaning, and even published books to spell it out for the people who haven’t been able to pick it up just on context alone.

Some people, though, are real mavericks who don’t play by your “rule” of language. Who’s to say that “maverick” means “a lone dissenter who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.” I mean, if McCain and Palin want it too, why can’t it mean “a person who agrees with their associates 95% percent of the time” or “someone who adopts the opinions that their staff tells them will most appeal to their base?” “Maverick” isn’t the only word they don’t use properly.

How about “pal?” They say Obama is pals, or “a very close, intimate friend,” with Bill Ayers. I have lots of close, intimate friends who were full grown adults when I was 8, sit next to me in a room a couple of times, and whose actions I publicly denounce. I mean, really, not a day goes by that I’m not denouncing my close, intimate friends in the media. That’s what makes us such close, intimate friends.

They mocked Joe Biden for saying that paying your taxes is “patriotic,” which means “characteristic of a patriot.” For those who don’t know, a patriot is “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.” Maybe I’m mistaken, but it sounds like paying your taxes, obeying the laws of this nation, in order to fund your democratically elected government and support it’s efforts around the globe and here at home sounds like “supporting his or her country with devotion.” Yeah, it does. It does sound “patriotic.”

But maybe that’s because Joe Biden is talking about The United States of America, and they are talking about the “real America.” Apparently the parts of the country where the majority of the people agree on issues and more than 50 percent of them support Barack Obama are “anti-American” and the parts where only a third of the people agree on anything and support John McCain are the “real” America. Really, what’s more anti-American than the majority agreeing on issues?

John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their friends, though, know that vocabulary goes by the wayside when dealing with someone like Barack Obama who’s a “terrorist,” “muslim,” “arab,” and “socialist.” Well since Barack is not “a person, who uses or advocates terrorism” I guess he’s not a “terrorist”. And since he’s not “an adherent of Islam,” he’s not a muslim either. Neither is he “a member of a Semitic people inhabiting Arabia and other countries of the Middle East,” since he was born in The United States and his parents were born in the U.S. and Kenya (a part of Africa, not Arabia.)

I guess that just leaves “socialist,” which is a word that they like to use to make you think “communist” and thus “Stalinist” and “brutal dictator.” Nothing could be further from the truth. See, “socialism” is “a system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.” Does any of that sound like Barack Obama? Has he ever given a stump speech in which he’s mentioned wanting the government to own all the farms and produce all the food? Or where he’s talked about taking all of your land and redistributing for other uses? No? Well, that’s because he hasn’t.

See, they confuse “socialism” which is an economic doctrine with “social programs.” Socialism would be like the government owning and operating all of the hospitals, and controlling who gets what health care. What Barack Obama wants to do is offer you the choice of belonging to whatever health care program you want, including a cheaper program run by the government. You can go to private hospitals, buy private insurance, or skip the whole thing altogether and just pay as you go. In this case, the government isn’t controlling or owning the health care system, they are becoming another provider in that system. Neither he, nor anyone else in the Democratic party, advocates the government controlling our economy, they just want the government to participate in the economy like any citizen or corporation is allowed to do. The government can give loans, or buy stocks, or create financial incentives, all things that ordinary citizens and corporations can do in the economy. These are activities that Republicans support as well.

Their problem is not with what he wants to do, but who he wants to do it with. Barack Obama wants to fund schools that everyone gets to go to, while John McCain wants to give money to schools that only a few lucky people can attend. Barack Obama wants to invest in companies that are working on creating new, cheap, and American-made energy, while John McCain wants to invest in companies that are making record profits by importing expensive and unclean oil from foreign nations and selling it to us at a markup. Barack Obama wants the government to pick up the slack where the free market leaves gaps, while John McCain wants you to be entirely on your own unless you can afford to hire a lobbyist, a lawyer, or create your own industry. Both of them still want the market to be free to do it’s business. But Barack Obama wants to make sure that someone is keeping an eye on them so that average Americans won’t lose all of their investments or be tricked, while John McCain wants to wait until companies overextend themselves and go bankrupt before then giving them money to keep on doing what they’re doing.

But you can throw around words like “dangerous,” “socialist,” and “unAmerican” and scare people about your opponent so that they support you. Though, in that case, then you become a “terrorist.”