THE intended meaning of the word reform has been perverted and twisted in the same way the names and meanings of all religions have been by fanatics so that reform and religions, as presented by these people, no longer represent their true meaning or purpose. Some may not see these people as the same, but consider the purpose of their deceptions, their lust for power, their greed for more and more wealth. They are the same, just the political or religious creed they pervert are different. We do not need a new word to replace reform, we just need activist and politicians to speak plainly about what they want to do for the benefit of the 99%. So don't speak of entitlement reform, tell the electorate we should increase Social Security payments and lift the Soc Security tax cap. No more education reform, tell us we need to expand preschool programs and peg student loan interest rates to the inflation rate. Speak the plain truth to the 99% and the vast majority will rise against Orwell's pigs....
George Orwell famously examined the malleability of political
language in the hands of society's rich and powerful. "Political
language," he wrote, "is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
Throw in the innovations and conscious attempts to manipulate political
language that spew forth from
Frank Luntz's focus groups and the producers at
Fox News, and it's pretty clear that Orwell's insight has been proven correct with a vengeance.
It's an old cliché that "knowledge is power," but one could also
argue that "power is knowledge." The powerful have the means to define
reality on their terms. Ideas that serve power, such as market
fundamentalism, are widely ventilated, while those that don't get
relegated to the dustbin. Just look at the climate change "debate"
where the fossil fuel industry and its right-wing shills believe they
can
trump science
through propaganda. Few practices illustrate this phenomenon better
than how ruling elites these days inside and outside the corporate media
talk about "reform." For example:
"Entitlement Reform" in reality means privatizing
Social Security, voucherizing Medicare, and slashing social programs,
thereby taking food out of the mouths of babes and grannies and turning
over large swathes of these vital programs to corporate managers,
"entrepreneurs," and profiteers.
"Tort Reform" in reality means dismantling laws and
regulations and hindering civil lawsuits that are often the last resort
in protecting the environment and the rights of workers and consumers.
This "reform" would allow corporations to more freely brutalize workers,
rip off customers, and foul the air, water, and land.
"Tax Reform" in reality means slashing tax rates for
the wealthy and the corporations and passing on the tax burden to
workers and lower income people through regressive sales taxes and other
schemes.
"Pension Reform" in reality means dismantling or
seizing the pots of money that millions of workers have contributed to
their entire working lives and handing them over to big banks, corporate
managers, "entrepreneurs," and profiteers. (Similar to the enormously
successful multi-year propaganda campaign that pushed ditching defined
benefits pensions in favor of shitty 401ks.)
"Prison Reform" in reality means privatizing
prisons, breaking the correctional officers' unions, and turning the
facilities over to corporate managers, "entrepreneurs," and profiteers.
This "experiment" in free market incarceration wherever it has been
enacted imposes a
perverse incentive structure where filling prisons is part of the "business model."
"Education Reform" in reality means privatizing
public education, destroying teachers' unions and staff unions, and
turning over the system to corporate managers, "entrepreneurs," and
profiteers.
A good share of the blame for bastardizing the word "reform" should
be tossed onto the laps of the so-called education reformers. Because
they are "bipartisan" and really pour on the liberal sounding rhetoric
about saving the little children, and have soft-focus spokeswomen like
Michelle Rhee setting up straw arguments and knocking down before a fawning corporate media, they're very good at masking the
privatizing corporate interests that financially back their "school reform" agenda.
Isn't it interesting that all of these "reforms" if enacted would
benefit the richest and most powerful corporate interests in America?
The word "reform" used to have a progressive accent - such as the
reforms that took place in the Progressive Era between 1900 and 1918 and
during the New Deal era between 1933 and 1939. "Reform" was then
associated with protecting consumers from contaminated meat and drugs,
or recognizing the rights of workers to organize labor unions, or
providing for a better society through insurance against the
vicissitudes of life and the right to retire with a shred of dignity
after a life of hard work. "Reform" used to mean government actions
designed to give working people a leg up or expand democratic
participation.
Today, as Orwell predicted, we need a new political language.
"Reform" is being used in our political discourse by the wealthy and
corporate mouthpieces as code for privatizing and deregulating every
public service they can get their greedy hands on. How many times do we
hear banter about the need for "entitlement reform" from all the
"guests" on those odious Sunday Beltway talk shows?
Most people are unaware of the fact that when Paul Ryan or Ron Wyden
or David Gregory or Ruth Marcus or David Brooks or any other denizens of
the power structure use the term "entitlement reform" what they really
mean is gutting Social Security. Maybe Democrats when they appear in
corporate media should use the term "cut Social Security" as a
replacement? Maybe some good minds on the progressive side of the dial
can come up with an alternative to the word "reform." That word, like
the words "freedom," "peace," and "compassion," has already become so
muddled and misused these days it only gives "the appearance of solidity
to pure wind."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/maybe-we-need-to-find-a-n_b_4563091.html
