I feel like I woke up in George Orwell’s “1984,” where political “doublespeak” is an accepted form of communication. Doublespeak is defined as a language that “deliberately disguises, distorts or reverses the meanings of words.”
We want “better education,” so we cut spending to public education, deny certified teachers their bonuses and promote private school subsidies; we love the Lord so much, but deny his basic tenet of taking care of “the least of these;” the most religious among us are more inclined to put folks, especially women, in prison and promote executions; we’re so patriotic as long as it doesn’t mean paying for our veterans to have better health care; and we want to eliminate abortions, but cut spending to family planning clinics and contraceptives for women, but pay for men’s Viagra.
The
Congress is in a quandary about how to balance the budget, and one
party believes the wealthiest Americans should not have to pay their
proportionate share of taxes. When did logic disappear from our
political discourse?
—Donna Merry
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2011.