10 More Overused (Or Useless) Political Words and Phrases

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

argument fightOur last list of ten overused (or downright useless) words and phrases in American politics did pretty well, Save Jerseyans, so I decided to compile Volume II for your enjoyment and enlightenment.

Unfortunately, I suspect we could easily make it to Volume XXVI without reaching too deeply. Maybe we will. Stay tuned. It’s not like our national political discourse is trending in a smarter direction or anything, so I’m in no danger of having to make a snap decision. Stay tuned…

For now, without further ado, here’s Round #2 for your kind consideration:

10) Minimum Wage

Save Jersey bloggers have written digital volumes on the fallacy of a “minimum” wage. Broad strokes? The reason this phrase makes the list is due to the fact that setting a minimum wage at $10, $15, or more per hour is not only completely arbitrary and illogical from an economic/accounting point of view, but the regulation itself doesn’t guarantee actual employment, does it? No politician can MAKE an employer hire someone to work the cash register or deep fryer at $15 per hour (at least nit yet). So in the very near future, your burgers will be flipped and rung-up by machines. At that point, I suspect many current proponents of minimum wage hikes will agree with me that they’re more appropriately termed “minimum employment” laws. Limiting shifts and employment – NOT maximizing wages and prosperity – is the inevitable end result!

9) “Negative” Advertising

It’s not “negative” if it’s true, Save Jerseyans, unless you’re the negative ad’s target! Personal attacks is a better descriptor for what your average voter is complaining about. Still, study after study and election after election prove, undeniably, that it’s what voters are most likely to respond to. The personal stuff most of all! Otherwise the tabloid publications, shows and blogs wouldn’t comprise a multi-billion dollar industry. Moreover, anyone who is a true student of American History knows that our earliest elections – notably 1800 – were among the most slanderous in the recorded annals of politics. Please call me when humans evolve (or devolve, depending on your perspective) into coldly-logical Vulcans like Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. Until that blessed, magical day, complaints about “negative” advertising are as misdirected as they are dishonest.

8) Climate Change “Deniers”

This one manages to be as offensive as it is stupid. Let’s cut to the chase: almost no one denies that the climate changes over time. Okay? You can’t get through a middle school curriculum without encountering tropical dinosaurs and ice ages. Now that that out of the way… the million dollar question: whether current scientific computer models are accurately predicting “global warming” in our near future engendered – and this is the key part – by anthropocentric causations. Maybe that’s why they’ve changed the name from “warming” to “change” to “extreme weather” in a few short years? I mean, these are the same people who can’t agree on whether margarine or butter are going to kill me in quicker fashion; in my parents’ lifetime, many of them were endorsing cigarettes as medicinal. Get off of your high horse, people. Scientific consensus is not infallible. In truth, there are plenty of rational, logical, scientific reasons to question that last part. And comparing anyone who questions the current dominant theory (emphasis on THEORY, not law) to the deniers of the Holocaust, where millions were brutally murdered like cattle by madmen, isn’t a person seriously interesting in ascertaining truth which should also be the pursuit of any true scientist; ironically, those tactics are reminiscent of a time in human history when scientific consensus told us that the sun revolved around our own planet.

7) “Today, we are all [insert here]…”

We hear it in the wake of every tragedy and in the midst of every crisis. It’s worse than trite. In my humble opinion, it’s also more than a little disrespectful. How can I possibly relate to the experience of the mother who just lost her son in a terror attack? Or a father who watched his deceased child carried out of the wreckage of a tornado-ravaged building by first responders? I’d even argue that the phrase helps take the place of the need for true sympathy or empathy. Or action? It’s so easy to slap on a ribbon, attend a candle light vigil and change your cover photo. Too easy. How many of us make the effort to reach out to those in need in a physical, tangible, interpersonal way? Outside and in the middle of a crisis situation? The next time tragedy strikes, just say “I’m very sorry, and I’m here to help” instead. We’ll be a better country for it and you’ll likely get more out of the experience to boot.

6) “Slut Shame”

One of the hardest things for me to understand about contemporary American culture? How someone like Sandra Fluke is a heroine (or hero, if the feminine version is too gender normative for you) for millions of her countrymen. She has no accomplishments to speak of; Ms. Fluke never climbed a mountain, raised a family, cured a disease, defied prejudicial laws like Rosa Parks, overcame a handicap, led a regiment or authored a groundbreaking novel. Nope. Sandra walked into Congress and demanded that other people pay for her birth control. She’s a heroine for asking John and Jane Taxpayer to subsidize her sexual exploits. Seriously? There’s a clear line between policing an adult’s bedroom behavior and reserving the right to express an opinion about it or, at the very least, demanding that we not have to pay for it! The death of shame is not a healthy development for our society. And it’s getting more expensive. We all need to become a little more discriminating before it’s too late.

5) “My plan will create jobs!”

No, it won’t. Government cannot create any jobs other than government jobs (see our minimum wage discussion above). Government jobs are paid for by the tax dollars of businesses and individual who, thanks to our progressive tax system, shoulder the lion’s share of the cost for ever-expanding public sector largess. So when government “creates” jobs, Save Jerseyans, it’s effectively destroying private sector jobs by limiting the ability to employers to invest in economically-advantageous, growth-oriented hiring and reinvestment. The only REAL way for politicians to create REAL jobs, then, is to create the conditions for job creation: low and predictable taxes, limited but responsible regulations, and the fair and equal application and enforcement of laws. Only vote for candidates who pledge to “help hardworking entrepreneurs create jobs.” It’s the only honest approach.

4) The Rich

Barack Obama won 52% of those voters earning $250k or more in 2008, Save Jerseyans. His coalition, albeit faltering at the moment, is loaded with tech millionaires (and billionaires), Hollywood celebrities, well-heeled yuppies, cultural elites and major corporation-types rocking government tax breaks. They’re the real “rich” in America 2014; men like the Koch brothers are a drop in the bucket. The “rich” Democrats are always talking about – and degrading – with their campaign ads and economic policies? Folks who operate sole proprietorships, own LLC’s with flow-through tax structures or work within the confines of closely-held partnerships; they earn good money, reported on their personal taxes, but don’t have limitless pools of cash such that they’re immune to market forces. Roughly 1 million American businesses fall into this broad category, and they bear the full brunt of tax hikes and new regulations. To save their family’s skins, are forced to respond by cutting positions, shifts and wages as well as raising prices. Keep all of this the mind the next time your friends are demanding that we kill, field dress, cook and eat the rich.

3) War for Oil

Whenever someone throws this gem at me as part of an anti-war in the Middle East argument, Save Jerseyans, I always respond with a full-throated “you’re damn right!” response. Liberals want their cake AND to eat it too on this point. They’re opposed to American energy independence at home (drilling, fracking, the erection of natural gas pipelines), but they simultaneously don’t want to wage war overseas to protect our available supplies of foreign energy. What’s left? Flintstones cars? They’re yabba dabba dopes, Save Jerseyans!

2) Hand up, not a hand out

This phrase was popularized in recent years by liberal apologists looking to cloak their old school redistributionist ideas in new packaging. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? The problem, of course, lies in the reality of the exchange. You and I know that true self-reliance is only born when we learn to stand up without a “helping hand” from a government program or agency. Government needs to keep its hands to itself. We’ll all be better off for it.

1) RINO

Probably the single most overused AND useless term of the past few years, Save Jerseyans. Accept reality: we operate within the confines of a two-party system. Unlike a European-style parliamentary system with several or even dozens of parties, two parties operating in a 316+ million person federal republican spanning a continent are bound to be coalitions, not ideology-pure political units. I highly doubt that the other system would suit us; can you imagine, for example, having a La Raza Party and a Skinhead Party? We’d never survive it! I support conservative policies because (1) they work, (2) they’re superiorly moral in application, and (3) I believe they’re also superiorly marketable in a campaign context when properly articulated. That doesn’t mean I believe the GOP can survive, thrive, and succeed – nor can the country for that matter – if some Republicans refuse to coexist with other Republicans who “only” agree with them 90% or 80% of the time.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

6 Comments

  1. How about some “Republicans” like LoBiondo (ACU Rating =44), Runyan (ACU =40), Smith (ACU =54), Lance (ACU=64) and Frelinghuysen (ACU=54)? Does the term “RINO” apply to them?

  2. Don’t you find the “create jobs” comment IRONIC with T-Mac’s “Running for Congress to get America Working Again” appearing on the same page?

    I enjoyed that, indeed.

  3. Take control of political language. Control language, control the conversation, will likely result in controlling the outcome of elections.

  4. 3.) No mention, of course, of the application of renewable energy sources, or shifting our economic strategy to include more of them into the picture. The old, “well-how-else-are-we-supposed-to-provide-for-our-country” defense. Cute play on words, Rooney!

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