If you can get hold of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 5 Feb 2013 you can see an interesting take on how politicians use language to dress up their intentions in a palatable phrase. In the Daily Show it was about the American election where the GOP lost to the Democrats. Apparently it was a messaging problem, not bad policies.
I am thinking here of the Labour/Liberal parties and their ‘efficiency dividends’ which are in actual fact cuts disguised under another name. To badly paraphrase Shakespeare, an efficiency dividend by any other name would not smell as sweet.
Anyway here is a link, it won’t work here unfortunately so you are on your own in find another source, eg iTunes:
One example from the show was the Republicans calling relaxed pollution standards the Clear Skies Act.
Rather than ‘smaller government’ call it ‘more effective and efficient government’. The Republicans are fans of minimal government, hence the attempt at disguising their actual aim of getting rid of as much government as possible.
Sister Nicole
This intellectual discussion is reminding me of two people – Felix & Charles. You are so funny Phil.