I just read yet another newspaper article about some asshat Republican politician - in this case Pat Toomey - spouting off about how "entitlement programs" have to be cut.
I'm just venting here, so feel free to move along to another diary that is probably much more substantial, but I'm fucking fed up with this wingnut terminology. "Entitlement Programs" has wormed its way into the everyday dialog way too much and it may be one of the things that's holding open the door to slashing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and a whole host of things that a responsive, progressive government needs to address.
These are not "Entitlements"...they are responsibilities, things that a citizenry needs to do so that fellow citizens do not go hungry, spread illness, suffer, or die. Existing on the very edge of survival is not an "Entitlement." But yet again, with the media in full compliance and Democratic politicians seemingly too tongue-tied to object, this phrase has become accepted and commonplace.
I'd love to see each and every person who believes in the sanctity of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other safety-net programs speak up - loudly, forcefully - every time a Republican tries to use the term "Entitlement Program." Tell them they're not just wrong, they're poisoning the debate with toxic rhetoric.
There must be hundreds of alternate phrases that could take the place of this putrid wingnut language:
- Bedrock programs
- Foundation programs
- The American Social Contract
- Our Duty to One Another
And on and on. All it takes is the will to not get stampeded by foul and awful words.
Is it too much to ask that we start the counter-offensive by taking back their right to call things what they're not?