Decoding
Bushspeak: A Republican-to-English Dictionary
accountability: Rationale for punishment against those who fail to overcome circumstances beyond their control, such as the ability of poor children and their parents to secure a public education in chronically underfunded public schools. Note that this term does not apply when assessing the validity of a national missle defense system, for which only a good faith effort to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars is required rather than actual empirically measurable successful results.
bipartisanship: Sometimes also seen as "spirit of compromise." Willingness by Congressional Democratic leaders to support, accept or fail to oppose public policy proposals from President Bush and the Republican Congressional leaders despite the mutual understanding that the proposals are not supported by a clear majority of the American people. When used by Republican leaders this term is synonymous with capitulation.
big government: Any attempt by a duly constituted public authority to regulate or put limits on the power of private corporations or make them responsible for the consequences of their actions, with the exception of the gaming or entertainment industries.
compassionate conservativism: Consists of smiling while cheating women, minorities and the working class out of their share of the nation's productive output. Replaces the term friendly fascism.
class warfare: Epithet used by Republicans to insult and delegitimize observations by Democrats and others of the horrendous and worsening problem of social stratification in the U.S.
conservative: Once widely understood as one who adheres to traditional methods or views, Republicans now use this word to cover a broad range of social agendas, including; consolidation of wealth in the hands of a few; intolerance of all religious traditions except certain sects of Christianity; military budgets that are inappropriately large for peacetime.
death tax: New Republican term used to replace the traditional term "estate tax," one of the traditional mechanisms in a democracy to ensure that a self-perpetuating aristocracy is unable to establish itself then capture and subvert democratic institutions. Fully 98% of the U.S. population is unaffected by the estate tax, which primarily burdens the 200 families in the U.S. with a net worth greater than $1 billion.
deregulation: Formerly meant clearing away legal and other obstacles for the purpose of establishing a competitive marketplace, now used to mean the the transition from de jure legal impediments to competition to de facto impediments such as unregulated and uncontrolled monopolies.
discrimination: Classic whine by white males when they have been told they have to share their money and power with women, minorities, and the poor.
disorderly conduct: Formerly the crime of behaving in such a manner as to endanger the physical well-being of others. Now used by radical right wing proto-fascists to refer to any exercise of freedom of speech that challenges the legitimacy of George W. Bush's ascension to the presidency.
election: When used by Democrats it means a consultation with the citizens of a democracy to determine the people they wish to represent them in public office for a fixed period of time. When used by Republicans it means the opportunity to acquire power by any means whatsoever, including but not limited to mimicking the language democracy as cover for violating its essential underlying principles of one person, one vote.
energy crisis: Any situation in which collaboration between a court appointed president and big oil businessmen results in price fixing, intentionally limited production, and coordinated gouging of the average American citizen.
fair and balanced: Republican term meaning archconservative news source serving as a tool of corporate interests while masquerading as impartial. Examples include Fox News, the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, etc.
fairness: The goal of
any form of justice, but especially in the area of taxation, that provides
overwhelming benefit to Republican constituencies.
faith-based: Euphemism for "religious," used as
part of an attempt to circumvent the Constitution's Bill of
Rights whose first ten words are "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion..."
partisan: In common Republican usage is now defined as any mean-spirited, illegitmate and unpatriotic attempt by non-Republicans to question the current administration's goals or methods, or to call for debate, or to ask for consideration of alternatives.
patriot: Anyone proud to be a Christian, god-fearing Republican, who believes strongly in the immutability of the status quo. See traitor.
perjury: The crime of lying while under oath. Formerly applied uniformly to all citizens, now only applies to Democrats and other non-Republicans.
pro-family: Policies designed to keep women -- other than the daughters resulting from the marriage of two Republicans -- in a state of economic dependency upon men and under the control of abusive husbands.
propaganda: Credible, honest news reporting that exposes unpleasant truths about right-wing political operatives, also sometimes referred to as a baseless charge.
property rights: Laws designed to protect the interests of the oil, timber, mining and livestock industries and enable them to exploit public lands to secure private profits.
pushers: Dealers of physiologically addictive and mind-altering drugs known to cause disease and death, subject to criminal prosecution unless the substance in question is tobacco or alcohol, in which case the perpetrator should be given influence and authority within the highest echalons of the Republican Party.
routine military operation: A sneak attack by an overwhelmingly superior force.
rule of law: Subversion of the Constitution, laws and institutions of the United States in order to achieve, justify and maintain unified control of the U.S. government by a single political party.
special interest: Formerly this phrase was reserved for economic interests who sought special privilege. In common Republican usage however it has come to mean any citizen or group of citizens who petition their government to respond to their concerns.
states rights: Doctrine for legitimizing racist, sexist and homophobic reactionary forces fighting a rearguard action against the ineluctible forces of democracy that over time make the U.S. increasingly accepting of full citizenship for racial and ethnic minorities, women and homosexuals.
strict constructionist: Doctrine adopted by conservative judicial activists to justify reactionary attempts to roll back progress on civil rights, women's rights, protection of the environment, and the defense of citizens from arbitrary government actions, while simultaneously claiming to be "above politics."
support: Republican euphemism for "is opposed to but unable to publicly say so due to the overwhelming popular support," as in "George W. Bush supports campaign finance reform." Usually appears in a phrase containing the word but, as in "Bush supports environmental protection but not effective measures to limit industrial emissions."
traitor: Godless humanists who may either be domestic enemies of the state (Democrats) or foreign enemies (Communists), and who continuously question the legitimacy of the Bush presidency even after patriots have clearly instructed them to "Get Over It." (Please see Get Over It.)
unconstitutional:
Any action that is not favorable to the Republican agenda.
unifier: A person who, after seeing the results of a
divided election, vows to bring the people together in a common political
agenda, then appoints the most extremist cabinet members and sets out an
extremely conservative agenda, forgetting his earlier vows. See also:
hypocrite.
welfare reform: Forced reintroduction of uneducated and unskilled workers into the job force to exert downward pressure on wage demands, undercut job training programs and ensure that corporate lobbyists continue to call for an easing of immigration restrictions rather than for improved education and training for American citizens.