Sadly, the 40-year campaign by conservatives to take over the political dialogue (and the political system itself) has been a success. Right-wing messaging is everywhere and has become the vernacular. But those of us on the left—and in the middle, too, come to think of it—must not give up.  Language counts. We need to try harder to—as my pre-school teachers often said—use our words to convey what we mean. And even though we may have heard all of this before, (we’ve all read George Lakoff, right?) it’s worth reminding ourselves to use our own talking points, rather than mindlessly adopting the language of the right.

Addicting Information offers this helpful compilation of words and phrases to avoid, and ways to recast the dialogue:

(1). Big Business: (Also referred to as: Corporate America; Multinationals; Corporate Interests) When we use any of these words, we automatically sound pie-in-the-sky liberal. People think, “what’s wrong with that?” After all, they’d like their own businesses to get “big” and have no negative associations with the words “corporate” or “multinational” — which actually sound kind of exciting and worldly. Instead, try: Unelected Government. This puts them in their proper context as unelected entities with unprecedented powers, whose actions have immense impact on our lives, and which we are powerless to hold accountable.

(2). Entitlements: I keep hearing reporters from National Public Radio and other liberal news outlets use the word “entitlements” and it makes me froth at the mouth. They’re not “entitlements” — which sounds like something a bunch of spoiled, lazy, undeserving people irrationally think they should get for nothing. Instead, try: Earned Benefits. This term not only sounds better for the progressive cause, it’s also more accurate. Programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment are all forms of insurance that we pay into all of our working lives — via a percentage of our income — and then collect from when the time comes.

(3). Free Market Capitalism: (Also referred to as: Capitalism, Free Markets, and Supply-Side Economics) Like “Fascism” and “Communism,” “Free Market Capitalism” is a 20th-century utopian ideal that has amply been proven an unworkable failure, and damaging to society. Instead, try: Socialized Risk, Privatized Profits. This best describes the dramatically failed experiment in unfettered capitalism, as practiced in the late 20th century and early aughts.

(4). Government Spending: (Also referred to as: Taxes, Burden, and Inconvenient) Conservatives talk about “government spending” like it’s this awful thing, but the fact is, communities across America benefit from U.S. tax dollars, especially supposedly anti-government red states, which receive way more federal tax money than they contribute.  Instead, try: Investing in America. Because, that’s what our federal tax dollars do. They invest in education and infrastructure that wouldn’t prove profitable for businesses, but which still benefit society in the long-run.

(5) Gay Marriage/Same Sex Marriage: While these phrases are technically accurate, they play into the conservative notion that marriage between two men or two women is somehow different and inferior than a “real” marriage between a man and a woman. Instead, try: Marriage Equality.

(6). Gun Control: Yikes! That sounds like you want to control people, and all those “freedom loving” folks who want to bully gays and people of color into staying in their place will use that word against you. Instead, try: Gun Safety. It sounds so nice, non-coercive, and reasonable … plus, it’s true. Most of us aren’t against guns, we just want them used safely. Or, for some added punch, try: Gun Violence Prevention.

(7). Homophobic: People who oppose equal rights for gays, lesbians, and gender atypical individuals are not “afraid,” as the “phobic” suffix implies. They are mean, bigoted @ssholes. Instead, try: Anti-Gay.

(8). Illegal Aliens: It’s easy to support draconian laws against people we refer to by such a scary and impersonal term as “illegal aliens.” It’s way harder to act against our neighbors, friends, the families of our children’s classmates, or the nice lady who sells those plump, fragrant tamales on the corner. Plus … are they really “illegal?” If Big Business … Ooops … I mean “Unelected Government” … didn’t want them here — for their easily-exploited, low-cost, skilled labor (yes, our neighbors from south of the border do offer specialized skills for which U.S. agribusiness refuses to fairly compensate) — they’d be gone. Instead, try: Undocumented Residents. Why not? They already do much of what we officially-recognized U.S. citizens do, plus they’re having more kids than Anglos are. Seems like immigration provides an ideal way for us to avoid the demographics crisis hitting Western Europe and Japan.

(9). Pro-Life: Ugh. They are NOT pro-life. Once a child takes its first breath, these supposed conservative “pro-lifers” couldn’t care less about the quality of life for the child or mother. Let’s call them by their true name for once. Instead, try: Anti-Choice. Because, that’s what they really are about. They don’t care about “life.” They only seek to deny choices to women. Not just the choice of whether or not to have a child, but whether a woman can — like a man — embrace her full sexuality without having to worry about pregnancy, and whether she can make related choices about her body, her career, and when to have children, as men always have.

(10). Right-To-Work: Who came up with the phrase “right-to-work” ANYway? It’s total B.S. and doesn’t give you the right to do anything, unless you want to reject unions and earn less money than you would in a pro-union shop. In “right-to-work” states, non-union workers in union shops can decline paying union dues. Which sounds fair, but is not, because union shops pay better wages to their employees, and hence should receive dues accordingly. Instead, try: Anti-Union: It’s far more accurate, and — as unions increasingly gain favor — will make conservatives look bad. Because “right-to-work” really does mean: Right to choose amongst sucky wages and benefits packages.  Several readers have also suggested: Right-To-Fire (without just cause), and Right-To-Work-For-Less.

(11). The Environment: When people talk about “the environment,” they often sound annoyingly self-righteous, as if lecturing people with dubious hygiene practices. Unfortunately, you can’t count on people to make environmentally friendly choices — especially when people are struggling financially and these choices cost significantly more. Instead, try: Shared Resources. That makes way more sense. We may not care about some  factory dumping crap into the ocean, but we dang-well care about our neighbors up the river not properly maintaining their septic tank.

(12). Welfare: When conservatives talk about “welfare,” they make it sound like this pit people wallow in forever, rather than a source of help that’s available when we need it – and that we pay for through our taxes. The majority of us need help at one time or another. Instead, try: Social Safety Net: When people think of a safety net, they’re more likely to think of a protection of last-resort, and one that they can instantly bounce out of like circus acrobats. And if we continue to grow the middle class — instead of cutting taxes for the rich and allowing companies to pay sub-living wages — perhaps the latter will be true again.

The post 12 phrases progressives need to ditch, and what to say instead appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Right-wing politicians, their media allies—and probably somebody at work or in your family—are peddling a lot of bull about immigration reform, a topic that is once again heating up in Congress. To counter the myths and misinformation, the progressive Media Matters has created a handy one-pager of counter-talking points. Here are some of the highlights. You can try them out the next time your BS detector red-lines and your blood starts to boil, but there’s no guarantee that facts will make a difference. Of course, you knew that.

BS statement #1: “Legalization is amnesty.”
Not really. We’re talking about giving people the chance to earn citizenship — after waiting years and meeting multiple requirements, like learning English and passing a background check. It’s in all our interests to give them that opportunity to continue contributing to America.

And, by the way, politicians who say we can deport 11 million people aren’t being honest. It doesn’t make financial sense either: it would cost us a quarter of a trillion dollars and cost our economy billions.

It’s also worth noting that President George W. Bush supported created a road to citizenship, and now, a bipartisan group of senators is leading the way with a proposal that includes earned citizenship for immigrants.

BS statement #2: “The Southwestern border is less secure than before.”
Fox News recently [April 2013] aired a report using skewed time periods and statistics to “prove” that immigration arrests at the border are at an all-time high. In fact, crime along the border is down, illegal border crossing under President Obama are at historic lows, and border security benchmarks have been met or even exceeded in some places.

Why? The border is more secure than ever, partially because federal government has ramped up enforcement resources in recent years—to the tune of $18 billion per year. At the same time, Mexico’s economy has been growing at a good rate for the past decade — better than America’s — giving people less reason to leave and immigrate to the U.S.

BS statement #3: “Illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes.”

Not true. First of all, everyone pays sales taxes, state and local taxes, and property taxes. Many Immigrants say that they would love to be in the system and pay regular taxes like any other American citizen. That is their dream.

In addition, many do also manage to pay income and payroll taxes, paying nearly $15 billion into Social Security each year, though they cannot collect benefits.
BS statement #4:  “Immigrants will take jobs away from American workers.”

We’ve heard that one many times before—with every wave of new immigration. The Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Chinese. This is merely the latest incarnation of an old, disproven argument.

Research shows clearly that immigrant workers help grow the economy overall, leading to lower unemployment and higher wages for those of us already here. That’s partly because immigrants and workers born in the U.S. generally don’t compete for the same jobs. Even with highly skilled workers, higher immigration increases the demand for workers, stimulates investment, and promotes specialization for many workers already in the labor force.

Most importantly, fair and practical immigration reform will allow us to crack down on businesses that undercut American workers by exploiting cheap immigrant labor off the books. That levels the playing field for honest businesses that play by the rules and pay their workers decently.

Because immigrants are also consumers and taxpayers, comprehensive immigration reform would be good for the economy. That’s common sense — the more people we have buying food, clothing, housing, and cars, the more businesses need to hire to keep up.
BS statement #5: “Illegal immigrants come to the United States to take advantage of government welfare.”

Okay, let’s get this straight, people: Federal programs like food stamps have always excluded undocumented immigrants, and the leading immigration reform proposals on the table do not even give immigrants with legal status access to federal public programs.

Ask anyone in your own family why they came to America [and someone in every American citizen’s history was, in fact, an immigrant, unless you are a Native American, and that’s a whole different story.] People come to America for the opportunity to work to get ahead, to make life better for themselves and their families. Most families moved here in the past for the same reason that American immigrants move here today — to seek freedom and a better life for their children.
B.S. statement #6: “The Obama Administration is trying to promote food stamps to illegal immigrants.”

To quote Al Gore: “Sigh.” Undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for food stamps. People who have immigrated legally make up less than 4% of food stamp users.

Right-wing Obama-haters and fear mongers have this one so wrong that it’s almost comic. They are referring to a program that only provides information, not food stamps. It provides outreach information on benefits that are already available to people who’ve been in the country legally for five years. If people are eligible for a program, they should be able to access it.

The funny part is that the program they’re ranting about was started under…wait for it…President George W. Bush.

BS statement #7:  “Illegal immigrants are criminals and commit more violent crimes than US citizens.”

Let’s review: Immigrants have the lowest crime rates of any demographic group, and compared to people born in the U.S., immigrants are less likely to end up in prison — a fact that even anti-immigrant groups have acknowledged.

Many law enforcement officials say cooperation from our immigrant communities helps keep our neighborhoods safer — and that anti-immigrant state laws actually do the opposite by breeding suspicion and fear among members of the community who’ve done nothing wrong.

Let me know if the facts work. And don’t bullshit me.

The post Activate your BS detector: You’re gonna need it for the immigration-reform debate appeared first on Occasional Planet.