Beware the "O" word ("ownership")

[scottxyz]

For the first time in his campaign, Bush hinted today at what he'd like to do if elected - he'd encourage "ownership".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x702875

Sounds nice, but what it actually translates to is: privatization and individualization of retirement and healthcare benefits. "Ownership" as the opposite of "collectivism", "ownership" as an example of "personal responsibility" (the kind that applies to Martha and "welfare queens" or women who get pregnant but not to corporate welfare queens such Bush/Harken or Lay/Enron or Cheney/Halliburton or men who do coke into their 40s.)

"Ownership" is another stealth buzzword like "pro-life", "clear skies", "leave no child behind", "school choice" (or the negative-sounding stealth buzzwords "death tax" and "partial-birth abortion"). These buzzwords, dreamed up by guys like Grover Norquist (who wants to "drown the Federal government in a bathtub" - actually just the social and environmental budgets, not the military, law-enforcement and surveillance budgets of course) and carefully tested on focus groups, are weapons of mental destruction designed to trick people into supporting policies which hurt them.

We should kill this word "ownership" before it spreads. We need to think of two words of our own:

- a more accurate word than "ownership" to describe Bush's proposed destruction of Medicare and Social Security.

- a buzzword of our own to describe what WE propose, something catchy that means "universal healthcare".

You gotta hand it to the Republicans, they do do their homework. Everybody's gonna love "ownership" - until they realize that it means the elimination of their beloved Medicare and Social Security. We (meaning the Kerry campaign, I guess) need to do our homework too and come up with an answer to "ownership".

[teach1st]

1. Commonwealth?

Or does that sound commie?

[LittleApple81]

3. Not any worse than Homeland sounding nazi. But the "British Commonwealth"

comes to mind.

[scottxyz]

4. Hey, I like it! - "commonwealth"

I don't think it sounds too much like "communist". Everyone notices "communist" has a Latin/Greek sound to it, whereas "commonwealth" is an old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon word.

I believe the word crops up somewhere in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence - which it can't hurt to quote now and then these days as our current government attempts to shred these documents.

The "-wealth" ending is very positive for many demographics - "healthy, wealthy and wise" has a populist ring, whereas "high-wealth clients" is a term used in private banking.

"Commonwealth" sounds like a new, more-dignified version of "welfare", which was probably very positive and new (but maybe a little stiff and funny-sounding as well), when it first rolled out, I guess under FDR and the New Deal.

[teach1st]

6. Now I know where I got it from..

It popped into my head after reading this thread, but it wasn't original...I had read this wonderful address by Bill Moyers earlier:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm

We were going to do these things because we understood our dark side -- none of us is good -- but we also understood the other side -- all of us are sacred. From Jefferson forward we have grappled with these two notions in our collective head -- that we are worthy of the creator but that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Believing the one and knowing the other, we created a country where the winners didn't take all. Through a system of checks and balances we were going to maintain a safe, if shifting, equilibrium between wealth and commonwealth. We believed equitable access to public resources is the lifeblood of any democracy. So early on primary schooling was made free to all. States changed laws to protect debtors, often the relatively poor, against their rich creditors. Charters to establish corporations were open to most, if not all, white comers, rather than held for the elite. The government encouraged Americans to own their own piece of land, and even supported squatters' rights. The court challenged monopoly -- all in the name of we the people.

[scottxyz]

8. Good example of "wealth" versus "commonwealth"

"Commonwealth" has a very nice ring to it - like the "common man" - who we need to help - rather than disposses, which is what Bush's "ownership" would eventually do.

[DieboldMustDie]

9. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania & Virginia don't think so.

;)

[papau]

2. Well said :-)

:-)

[cprise]

5. More accurate word: disposession

Our words: community, partnership, society, public accountability!

The last one is a variation on "social responsibility", and implies public enterprise.

SOCIETY exists whether we want it or not. We The People must decide if we want a respectable, likable society, and must realize that how we use government is an important part of that.

[scottxyz]

7. I love it! Yes, "dispossession" IS much more accurate

And everyone can see that its Latin root ("possess") means "own", so it's the perfect antidote to Bush's attempt to be folksy with "ownership".

I like "partnership" - a businessy- and Anglo-Saxon-sounding word conjuring up the image of a joint venture between the government and the people to pool risks and benefits - without sounding Latin/Greek/Soviet like "socialist" or "collective". The "-ship" ending is very folksy.