Political Doublespeak

An article by Francis Sparagna "Democracy corrupted by political doublespeak" (DJ-3/2) has a little doublespeak of its own. A better analogy about the future pay raise for employees might have been: I promise 10 employees that I will raise the total payroll from $1,000 next year to $1,500. It appears that everyone gets a $50 raise. But I hire 10 more employees, and now I have 20 employees and each will receive $75 instead of $100. Costs increase when more people qualify for programs, even without inflation, so we have a cut in services for everyone. We have more seniors reaching 65, more needy families, and more military returning with physical and mental disabilities. To label Medicare and Social Security entitlements is a misnomer; they are insurance programs, which we paid into from our first paycheck. Medicaid, an entitlement, is necessary with more Americans in need, many because of jobs lost or downgraded. President Bush's jobs growth does not even keep up with the number of new people moving into the job market. Before his election, Bush stated that he wanted to discontinue most of these programs; now he says he just wants to slow their growth, which can only be done by slowing the need. We neglect our people, but give huge tax cuts to oil companies and the wealthy. We must build our economy to provide jobs instead of outsourcing, stop borrowing from Social Security, and bring our people home from the poorly managed war in Iraq as soon as possible. It is ludicrous to accuse the Democrats of doublespeak when the guru of doublespeak, Karl Rove, is advising the president. As for the letters criticizing Congressman LoBiondo, it's obvious that many people in his district are extremely unhappy with his votes. Should we put up with what is going on, stay silent, and acquiesce to corruption and mismanagement in Washington, D.C.? If Mr. LoBiondo is feeling threatened, maybe it's because of his support for the Bush, Cheney, and DeLay policies, which he must know are now being rejected by the majority of Americans.

BETTIE J. REINA

Letter published in the Daily Journal, March 4, 2006