Carol Seideman: Socialism -- GOP can't redefine common words

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_20601737/carol-seideman-socialism-gop-cant-redefine-common-words

Carol Seideman: Socialism -- GOP can't redefine common words
Posted: 05/13/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty said, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean..." The GOP is hatching converts by redefining commonly understood words and terms. "Socialism" has become the catch-all pejorative for offensive liberal notions or scientific facts. When hearing that dread word, are we to collapse in terror and blindly follow tea party dictates?

What is being attacked, of course, is the American dream that is grounded in the common good. Heretofore, the country was driven by taxpayer funded institutions. The GOP would like to eliminate or privatize police and fire protection, public schools, roads, Social Security, and Medicare along with the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission or anything we all pay for and benefit from. These agencies are threatened to disappear into the maw of the greedy who equate profit with morality; privilege with righteousness. The masses of people who cannot afford private schools will suffer but not as much as the country, which will lose its competitive edge if substandard education becomes the norm.

When tea partiers prattle on about freedom and liberty, they are not talking about the First Amendment. Rather, they mean the freedom of big corporations to flout regulations, responsibility and accountability... the liberty to bilk without restraint.

Before accepting the GOP's definition of "socialism," check your dictionary ...

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Yes, thank you.

I just copied the above text into an email to My Favorite Wingnut, who is always throwing that word around.

[lastlib]

2. K & R!!