Don't Call It Outsourcing

Posted on February 26, 2005

Outsourcing is not a wise word to use if you want to win elections. Watching the Watchers has an interesting excerpt from the 160-page, confidential guidebook for political speech, as decreed by Republican pollster extraordinaire and consultant Frank Luntz. One fascinating addendum to the document is entitled: "The Fourteen Words Never To Use." The document lists the words that should never be uttered when making Republican political arguments. Some of the no-no's in our "it's not what you say but how you say it society" include: Outsourcing (instead, call it Taxation, Regulation, Litigation Innovation, or Education), Government (instead, call it Washington because people like their local governments and despise Washington), Drilling for Oil (instead, call it Exploring for Energy, which seems to conjure up visionso of Lewis and Clark), Privatize Social Security (instead, call it Personalize Social Security, which sounds cozy and friendly) and--one I actually happen to agree with wholeheartedly--the Estate Tax (instead, call it the Death Tax, which nearly everyone opposes when described that way and which all small business owners oppose no matter what you call it).

The left will cry foul, but the truth is all parties attempt to use language to control the debate. Words really do matter in our mediacentric, superficial society in which many Americans are totally ignorant about the important issues facing us today. So, whoever gets the best soundbite may very well win the argument. Lutz is just doing his job. All this means is that it's time for the Democrats to crack open the thesaurus and make their own list of Words Never to Use.