Should and Must

There is a game that Statists play. It’s called the “change the meaning game”… They will take a word and misuse it consistently in order to change the meaning in your mind.  (Liberal is a great example. Originally it meant something very, very different than what American Liberals have turned it into today.)
I was listening to our president speak in regard to raising taxes and he mentioned that Jesus said “the rich should pay more”.
I am not overtly religious. So if it was Jesus or Ronald McDonald makes little difference to my point.  What’s important is the insult being directed at all of us from the President of The United States.

He is either expecting us not to listen to what he is actually saying… or he thinks we’re all ignorant.

I believe he thinks we are unable to understand the difference between “should” and “must”.

He must also believe that if he uses “Should” in place of “Must” long enough we will assign the same meaning of “Must” to both words.
Let me be clear… it’s fine that you, me or anybody thinks someone “should” do something. I can think you should pay all my taxes. You can think I should join the circus, or I should punch myself in the face etc.

There is a distinct difference.

The line is drawn at “Must”.

“Must” requires Force.

This word is particularly important when being uttered by those folks in government. We have reserved the right of force to the government specifically.  So, they and only they can force us to do things.

Theoretically we have the U.S.Constitution and the Bill of Rights to protect us… but only if we demand they be followed; which we don’t.

This brings me to my issue with the president. When he states Jesus said “the rich should pay more” he means “must”. This is so common a tactic that it fails to register in our minds anymore. Too many of us just nod along in agreement with statements like these. We don’t take the time to ask first “who exactly are the rich” and “where did Christ state the rich needed to be forced (must) to pay more?” and finally “why don’t you just say ‘forced to’ when that is what you mean”?
Educated people should take offense at such statements from our leaders in government. We must demand clarity in speech, otherwise the Left on both sides of the aisle will continue to play their games… successfully.

As an aside, Isn’t it interesting that Leftists approve of religion so long as they think it bolsters their agenda (Jesus says the rich must pay more taxes) yet howl when it is in opposition to it (Churches should be forced to supply birth control)?  I was unaware that the Bible, Koran or U.S. Constitution were open for picking and choosing the things you like while disregarding those you don’t.

And, if they are… then what good are they?

(032714)

Advertisement

The theft of meaning

Communication is the key to progress.  Relating complex concepts in a form easiest to digest allows us to employ them to our benefit.  This ability is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom securing our place at the top of the food chain. So why is it those who wish to run our country go to such great pains to say nothing with as many words as possible?

If you are anything like me, I’m sorry.  But if you are like me then you watch every moment our president speaks (doesn’t matter which party), you watch every debate, you read every article (Ha!  not quite…) and then pour a very large Crown surrounded by glass.  You stick your nose in it… pick out the vanilla notes, give it a gentle swirl followed by a long slow draw and just as you begin to enjoy the full beautiful flavors the blend brings to the back of your throat you violently and repeatedly pound your head against the table.  It is the only way I’ve been able to bring myself back to the world of reason and rational after hearing these language thieves wax poetic.  If you’re not paying attention their speeches bore into your brain.  If left untreated you risk becoming one of the nodding hoard that mystically finds meaning in such pap as “Hope and Change” and then adopts “homeless chic” while joining your Facebook “friends” at an occupy protest.

While the president is always an easy target he’s a leftist… enough said.  But the lastest crop of word burglars are the Republican candidates vying for the 2012 nomination.  The intentional obfuscation is as amazing as it is repulsive.

Let’s play a game… Do you know the difference between the “debt” and the “deficit”?  The candidates don’t think so.  While I expect this from the left as it is their mission to control all wealth I do not expect it from anyone who has allowed the word capitalist to escape their mouth with favorable meaning.

Do you know that when a candidate cheers his plan to “reduce the deficit” it actually means we will still have one… and the debt will continue to grow laaaarger?  The candidates hope you don’t because they have apparently completely given up addressing our ever speedier free fall into fiscal oblivion.

Do you know that “raising the debt ceiling” actually means giving tacit approval to printing more U.S. Dollars?  AND the printing of more U.S.Dollars is a direct tax on any money you have saved or have invested?  In other words, THE PRINTING OF MORE MONEY IS A TAX!  A BIG FRIGGIN’ TAX!  BIG! BIG! BIIIG TAX!  The candidates hope you don’t because many of them continue to support keeping the presses inked up.  Where’s my drink…

Like I said, I expect this from the left because torturing the language to keep their base confused is what they do, else nobody would vote for them… what’s painful is how much of the left has found a home in the Republican party.  Don’t take any part of this as a third party endorsement… it is not.  We have primaries which serve this purpose… history has shown us multiple parties get us guys like Hitler.  (So all you third party types do the rest of us a favor and get on board… Let’s try to avoid those types having the opportunity to win with 34% of the vote.)  But what I do endorse is our demanding that these grifters use language with meaning. It’s time to return meaning to the debate and stop allowing our representatives to keep us confused in the hopes that we will just give up, stop watching, and let them do whatever the heck they want. They’ve had 70 years of that. And look around.