A War of Words
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It has long been recognized that those on the political left are more articulate than their opponents. The words they choose for the things they are for or against make it easy to decide whether to be for or against those things.
Are you for or against "social justice"? A no-brainer. Who is going to be for injustice?
The Supreme Court in a group photograph, Friday, March 3, 2006. Seated in the front row, from left to right are: Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and Associate Justice David Souter. Standing, from left to right, in the top row, are: Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. On Wednesday, April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Related Audio:
Taxpayers League Live Hour 1
Outrageous Earmark and Eminent Domain
What about "a living wage"? Who wants people not to have enough money to live on?
Then there is "affordable housing" and "affordable health care." Who would want people to be unable to afford to put a roof over their heads or unable to go to a doctor when they are sick?
In real life, the devil is in the details. But the whole point of political rhetoric is to make it unnecessary for you to have to go into the specifics before taking sides.
You don't need to know any economics to be in favor of "a living wage" or "affordable housing." In fact, the less economics you know, the more you can believe in such things.
Conservatives, on the other hand, have a gift for phrasing things in terms that are unlikely to arouse most people's interest, much less their support.
Do words like "property rights," "the market" or "judicial restraint" make your emotions surge and your heart beat faster?
There are serious reasons to be greatly concerned about all these things. But you have to have a lot more facts and more understanding of history, economics, and law before you see why.
An issue can be enormously important and well within most people's understanding. Yet the way words are used can determine whether people are aroused or bored.
One of those issues is what legal scholars call "takings." There is a masterful book with that title by Professor Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago Law School.
But if you are in a bookstore and see a book with the title "Takings" on its cover, are you more likely to stop in your tracks and eagerly snatch it off the shelf or to yawn and keep walking?
Takings are not a complex idea. But it needs explaining.
townhall.com |
