I think it is grim. In the sense, it is hopeless to try to deal with the left.
Democracy in America
Larry Elder
A student, for an assignment, looked up the word "democracy" in
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition. The
following definition appears:
1. a: government by the people; especially: rule of the
majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested
in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly
through a system of representation usually involving
periodically held free elections 2. a political unit that has a
democratic government 3. capitalized: the principles and
policies of the Democratic party in the U.S.
"The principles and policies of the Democratic party in the
U.S."? Hold the phone. Doesn't this appear that Merriam-Webster
suggests the word "democracy" and the Democratic party are
synonymous?
And remember the poll showing approximately 75 percent of
Republicans believe there is a leftward media bias, with nearly
50 percent of Democrats also agreeing that the mainstream media
tilts leftward? Is the venerable Merriam-Webster guilty of yet
another not-so-subtle shot against those dastardly Republicans?
"As we say hereabouts, 'Friends don't let friends vote
Republican,'" wrote San Francisco Chronicle columnist Adair
Lara recently. "If a San Francisco kid comes into the kitchen,
looks nervous and says, 'Mom, I've got something to tell you.
I'm different from everybody else. I'm ---,' we hope to God
he's going to say gay, not Republican ... It's more than not
liking them because they are against abortion and want to keep
all their money for themselves. It's also just plain fun to
hate Republicans. When I do it, I feel that tiny exhilaration
that comes from briskly labeling a group of people."
And what about the whack against Ronald Reagan in Bartlett's
Quotations? The book records witticisms, quips and profundities
of public figures. For Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we see 35
entries; for Jack Kennedy, who served just under three years,
the book contains 28 listings; and for Jimmy Carter, six. But
for Ronald Reagan, who served a full eight years, the book
contains just three quotations. And let's not forget Justin
Kaplan, the editor of Bartlett's Quotations, who said, "I'm not
going to disguise the fact that I despise Ronald Reagan."
Bernard Goldberg, who spent 28 years with CBS, recently wrote a
book called "Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts
the News." And William McGowan, formerly with Newsweek and the
BBC, who wrote "Coloring the News," says, "Without
counterbalancing influences, the worldview and prejudices of
the liberal-leaning newsroom majority manufacture what become
philosophical 'givens.'"
But Merriam-Webster? -- part of the vast left-wing conspiracy?
For "democracy," the American Heritage Dictionary says:
1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or
through elected representatives. 2. A political or social unit
that has such a government. 3. The common people, considered as
the primary source of political power. 4. Majority rule. 5. The
principles of social equality and respect for the individual
within a community.
Nothing about "the principles and policies of the Democratic
party in the U.S."
For its part, Merriam-Webster seemed almost defensive about
their definition of democracy. In a letter, Merriam-Webster's
associate editor Thomas Pitoniak explained, "The sense of
'democracy' in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth
Edition, which you refer to is not common nowadays, but the
word has been used that way and you will find the same basic
sense in the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. The
oldest apparent example of this use of 'democracy' is from
Henry Clay, back in 1825: 'I am (alleged to be) a deserter from
democracy.' You will note that other senses of 'democracy' are
shown, some of them much more common, of course.
"The purpose of our dictionary is to present meanings of words
as people use them, not to establish by fiat the equation of
something with something else, or to tell people what words
should mean rather than what they do mean in actual English
usage. We base our definitions on evidence, nothing more.
People often try to draw political inferences from our
definitions, as if, say, in this case, we were saying that
democracy, in its customary sense, is the exclusive province of
the Democratic party, but that is absurd. There is a meaning of
the 'democracy' that has referred to that party, just as the
word 'Republicanism' has referred to the Republican party.
Different meanings of the word 'democracy' are involved here
and they should not be confused. Indeed, part of the role of a
dictionary is to separate distinct meanings so that they are
clear to a user of the English language who wants to understand
them.
"Part of this confusion about 'democracy' is obviously due to
the fact that 'Democrat' and 'democracy' are related as words."
Oh.
Pitoniak began his letter by saying, "We have received several
inquiries along these lines recently, for whatever reason,
though I doubt it is mere coincidence."
Hmmm, maybe he suspects a conspiracy.
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