ON THE USE OF A WORD – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  There's an old saying that he who controls the vocabulary controls the country.  We've not done enough at Urgent Agenda to alert readers to what we see as the misuse of words to create an effect.  So let us begin today.

The first word on our list is "entitlement."  Notice how it's always used in relation to Social Security and Medicare, the better to make us think that this is something the government is doing for us, a favor, a gift to which we are entitled.

The problem is, neither Social Security nor Medicare are entitlement programs, and I wish conservatives would stop going along with the term.  They are insurance programs.  We pay into them.  We are required to.  Hey, guys, that's our money you're using.  Hasn't anyone in Washington noticed the fact that we pay a Social Security tax?  Hasn't anyone noticed that we pay Medicare premiums?

It's clear, of course, that the taxes and premiums are not covering the cost of the programs.  That has to be fixed, and a number of proposals are floating around.

But please, these are not entitlements.  No one is giving us any gifts.  We are policyholders, even though the insurance policies we hold are getting wobbly.

April 20, 2011