Posted by
Sgt Relic on Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:06:56 AM
Ever notice how politicians get stuck on a relatively ambiguous word when they are selling something that nobody wants?
We got treated not long ago to GRAVITAS as the word of the day. Ironically, just 8 short years before electing a man to the presidency with less executive experience than the average Scout Troop Leader, and a VP with long experience but little accomplishment outside the area of political gaffes, there was concern about whether a two term Texas Governor had enough experience to be president without a strong VP.
This set off a long and virtually meaningless debate about who possessed this magical aura and who fell short of the mark. It passed away fairly quickly when Limbaugh started ridiculing the use of the word in long montages of various media and public figures trying to sound smart.
Next up, at least from where I’m sitting, was COMPREHENSIVE. That is, as in comprehensive immigration reform. You probably know it as amnesty or possibly McAmnesty. Regardless, it amounted to a huge backroom bill chocked full of freebies for illegal aliens and the grand prize of U.S. citizenship for $3500 bucks a pop. Comprehensive has come to mean legislation that has more complication than a Gordian knot and is far too lengthy and confusing for politicians to actually read before voting on.
Around the same time, GLOBAL WARMING was coming into vogue as the instrument that would usher in, without benefit of verifiable science, a new age of progressive control over every aspect of our daily lives. Of course, a small course correction was necessary, when because it is not sound science, the planet started getting colder. Global Warming rallies were being snowed out and the whole thing started to look silly.
Isn’t it odd how when you choose to ignore science, apparently even to the point of not checking the weather, your Baltimore demonstrators look foolish spelling out Global Warming with their buck nekked bodies…….IN THE SNOW!!! Add to that the specter of a huge Global Warming Conference, chaired by the guru of AGW, Al Gore, having to be cancelled because of near blizzard conditions in NYC and it becomes evident that something must be done.
Enter CLIMATE CHANGE. This one works much better. No, there is still no science involved but this term evidently includes hot and cold weather. What could be better than espousing a theory that accounts for anything the climate happens to come up with?
Recently we have been introduced to a new term in political speak. ROBUST! That would be, as in, a robust public option. You know this one as government run healthcare. As near as this writer can figure, the term robust means; grotesquely expensive. Perhaps a secondary usage might be; draconically administered. Try reading this article at CBSNEWS substituting either of these terms for the word robust and see if it doesn’t make just as much sense.
The public option portion of this latest buzzer refers to having the option to buy your health insurance from the government when, due to the low cost of the public option being subsidized by the taxpayers, your private insurance company goes out of business.
Congress has their work cut out for them. It is not going to be easy to wreck the U.S. healthcare system when over 80% of Americans like their private insurance, another percentage of the remainder don’t want health insurance at all, or are self-insuring. Also, since no one in the U.S. is denied health services by law, regardless of their ability to pay; that’s a tough sell!
Couple that to the fact that this insurance agent, that is the government, already operates some of the most unsuccessful public programs in America. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the USPS, Fannie and Freddie, and Al Gore’s private railroad which loses billions every year are just a few of the more visible.
Robust is a word based in the Latin for Oak and is defined as healthy and strong. Writers like to use it in historical writing to refer to our pioneer ancestors who thrived in harsh conditions while performing difficult labor as they opened up the country to settlement. Considering the costs involved when added to the trillions of dollars of debt recently added to our tab and the effects on the economy of a Cap and Tax on energy; we could well find ourselves living outdoors. It’s called being homeless!
I have new word to add to the mix. It describes what our personal economies will look like if all of this spending continues. That word is ANEMIC!!!