Sun 27 Jan 2019
The need for definition in the national dialogue
Posted by belisarius under Ranting and Ramblings of an Old Man
Comments Off on The need for definition in the national dialogue
A problem with having a national dialogue that is meaningful and not mere rants is lack of definition. What do we mean by Democracy, by Freedom, by Rights, by Middle Class, by Populism, by Socialism, etc? Is there any agreement on these basics? For example; the term Working Class has nearly disappeared and anyone not actually on welfare considers himself to be Middle Class. But so too do surgeons and lawyers, basically anyone not holding many millions of dollars in stocks. How then can we even talk about helping or taxing, or whatever the Middle Class as a single entity? For another example; anyone with a cause calls it a Right. Does he mean a natural right, a legal or constitutional right, or perhaps a moral right? I, for one, envision “Small Business” as a mom and pop store but in industry regulations a small business may employ anywhere between fifty and a thousand persons depending on the industry. Bottom line: without more definition we too often talk past each other using the same words but not with the same meaning. I suspect that with more agreed definition there might well be less disagreement and certainly less hostility bred of misunderstanding. But I also suspect that both rabble-rousers with some cause and crafty politicians who negotiate for a living prefer the haze of imprecise terminology.
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