Words That Influence are the Words to Use

Bear with me for just a couple of moments while I, so to speak, set the stage.

Words have two kinds of meanings — denotative and connotative.

Simply put, the denotative (primary) meaning of a word like fireplace is pretty straightforward. It’s a structure in a house where you can burn wood or coal or gas.

The connotative (secondary) definition of the word however is filled with nuance and meaning — a lot of which depends on your own personal experiences. Fireplace conjures up a feeling of warmth, coziness, home, family, perhaps even popcorn.

On the Federal level alone we have 468 elections to win in 2010 — all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. And, while the polls say more Americans associate themselves with conservative thinking it isn’t enough to win. We must sway the independent voters, those in the middle, who gave the presidency to both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.

Liberal is not a term in favor, having come to mean tax and spend and weakness on national defense. That’s one reason Hillary Clinton decided she was a progressive. Progressive sounds much better — you know, forward thinking. So don’t call them that.

There’s a third term, statist: a belief in concentrating extensive power and control over economic and other activities in the hands of government — and here’s the kicker — at the expense of personal liberty.

My suggested term of endearment is Liberal-Statist.

Just as with liberal, the word capitalist now has a negative connotation. It fosters images of fat-cats in their private jets, mansions, the excesses of Wall Street and a disregard for the average working citizen.

We conservatives, on the other hand, want to restore the spirit of American entrepreneurship and free-enterprise that built the country into the richest nation with more citizens enjoying a higher standard of living than any country in the history of the world.

No one — not liberals and certainly not conservatives — want to have their actions controlled by the government. When we talk about redistribution let’s be honest, 40 percent of the populations doesn’t pay any Federal taxes so, naturally, they aren’t too upset about raising taxes on the other 60 percent and especially not on those making $250,000 or more a year.

So present these Liberal-Statist programs in terms that will affect them, will control their actions, will control their choices.

If government gives them health insurance government will control what treatments are covered. Government will control – by deciding how much it will pay doctors for a particular procedure — which doctors will accept the “free” insurance plan. Show them how many medical practices don’t accept Medicare or Medicaid because the reimbursement doesn’t cover the value of the procedure.

Show them that government believes obesity is a major cause of higher medical costs and that the government believes — especially if it is providing the health insurance — that they should be able to dictate what foods and how much you eat and how much exercise you must do.

If government mandates limits on carbon emissions their electricity bills will go up almost $2,000 a year — even President Obama admits that. If they believe the government will help them pay those higher bills, show them that there are mandates to install “smart” meters that control when and how much electricity they can have, control how warm they can keep their homes, control their personal comfort.

Ask any mother — poor, middle class or rich; black, white or hispanic — if they think their children are getting a good education in the public schools. Ask them what they think their child’s future will be like without a good education.

Ask any mother is they want their children to be free to choose what career they pursue in life; want them to be able to succeed to their fullest potential. Ask that mother if she really believes that the government, as the sole provider of student loans, will allow her child to study whatever they want without any regard for what government thinks the country needs.

Ask any mother if she wants to burden her children and her grandchildren (and even her great grandchildren) with so much debt that they will never enjoy the fruits of their labors. Ask if she thinks it’s fair that they will always be enslaved because of our excesses.

Do you really know how much $13,000,000,000 ($13 trillion) is? I can’t begin to fathom a number that big. Political campaigns are lost because candidates don’t make the numbers relevant to the individual. It’s so much more effective to say that everyone will work one day a week for the next 200 years just to pay they interest on the national debt…for one year (I didn’t check those figures it’s just an example).

Everyone who works has FICA and Medicare withheld from their paycheck. Doesn’t matter how little you make or how many dependents you have. If the government increases these two taxes as little as one-half of one percent (.005), even the minimum wage earner will pay almost $3.00 more a week — $150.00 more a year. Ask how they would choose to spend that money if the government didn’t take it away from them.

You’ll notice I’ve ducked the Pro-Choice/Pro-Life debate. Truthfully, I haven’t figured that one out yet. It’s a really, really hot-button issue and conservatives, in everything else, are pro individual choice. At the moment the best I have to offer is to ask the Pro-Choice person to make the wiser, more moral choice and give the child up for adoption.

Anyway, just think about the words you use. Not just what they mean in a purely dictionary sense; think about the image they conjure up in the mind of the person you’re discussing the issues with.