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As we enter the fall political season, we will hear a
great deal of rhetoric from both major political parties and their many candidates
for office. It's important for us to remember, however, that words can be
made meaningless by misuse or overuse. And when we as citizens allow
politicians to obscure the truth by distorting words, we diminish ourselves
and our nation.
For example, we've all heard politicians use the words
"democracy" and "freedom" countless times. They are used
interchangeably in modern political discourse, yet their true meanings are
very different. They have become what George Orwell termed "meaningless
words". Words like "freedom," "democracy," and
"justice," Orwell explained, have been abused for so long that
their original meanings have been eviscerated. In Orwell's view, such words
were "often used in a consciously dishonest way."
Without precise meanings behind words, politicians and
elites can obscure reality and condition people to reflexively associate
certain words with positive or negative perceptions. In other words, unpleasant
facts can be hidden behind purposely meaningless language. As just one
example, Americans have been conditioned to accept the word
"democracy" as a synonym for freedom. Thus we are conditioned to
believe that democracy is always and everywhere benevolent.
The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy
is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently
incompatible with freedom. While our Constitution certainly features certain
democratic mechanisms, it also features inherently undemocratic mechanisms
like the First Amendment and the Electoral College. American is a
constitutional republic, not a democracy. Yet we've been bombarded with the
meaningless word "democracy" for so long that few Americans
understand the difference.
If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way,
we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is
living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom
or liberty--regardless of the issue being discussed-- ask yourself whether he
is advocating more government force or less.
The words "liberal" and
"conservative" have also been abused. "Liberalism," which
once stood for civil, political, and economic liberties, has become a synonym
for omnipotent coercive government. Liberalism has been redefined to mean
liberation from material wants, always via a large and benevolent government
that exists to create equality on earth.
"Conservatism," meanwhile, once meant respect
for tradition and distrust of active government. But in recent decades
conservatism has been redefined as support for big-government grandiosity via
military adventurism, corporatism, and inflationary monetary policy. The
modern political right has redefined conservatism into support for an
all-powerful central state, provided that the state furthers supposedly
conservative goals.
Orwell certainly was right about the use of meaningless
words in politics. Our task, therefore, is to reclaim our language and
reclaim our liberties. If we hope to remain free, we must cut through the fog
and attach concrete meanings to the words politicians use to deceive us
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