Word, word, what do they mean

"First confuse the vocabulary." The communist party leaders dutifully followed these words of instruction given to them by Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin. This alpha instruction was meant to convey the cornerstone of communist control. The purpose was clear - confuse the language and confuse the masses so that you can control them. Barak Obama says, "I’m for change." Lenin certainly knew the challenges of maintaining social order ( which he called social democracy) and he did so by disordering the language into propaganda perfection. Obama represents "hope." Accurate thinking requires words of precise meaning. Communication between human beings is impossible without words whose precise meaning is mutually understood. Confuse the vocabulary, and people do not know what is happening, they cannot communicate an alarm; they cannot achieve any common purpose. Obama speaks of his vision of "one America not two Americas." He says, "Let’s begin the 21st century." Hillary Clinton says "Washington is broken." Confuse the vocabulary and millions are helpless against a small, disciplined number who know that what they mean when they speak is not what their audience will hear. Lenin hoped to change Russia by moving the people to follow his vision out of democracy to socialism and ultimately to communism. Do Obamamaniacs or Cintonistas care about the meaning of their saviors’ words or are they just enthralled by their leaders charisma? We are on the "brink of doing something special." I will "save the country," Obama intones.

Have you the American citizen noticed the vocabulary of politicians? Do the words’ clarity and consistency come to mind or do we find confused meanings rampant in our political culture? Are we consistently confounded by the speeches of our political leaders pandering to the 50% of Americans who choose to exercise their franchise? Will hope force politicians to return to common sense straight talk? McCain is a self- proclaimed straight talker but he’s bent on anything but talking straight. He wants to hug the center of the road but fails to mention that he drives on the British side of the road, the left side represented by compromise, political correctness and compassionate government. Obama and Hillary both say we should get off the road into the wilderness which eventually leads to a Utopian village on the edge of a swamp controlled by bureaucratic socialists.

Why have we allowed language in this age of media and technology to become inundated with unintelligible sentences and speeches? So far socialism has not been the force behind our culture of chaotic language. But when Obama says he will eliminate NAFTA that "has destroyed American jobs," what does this really mean? When Clinton says she will "revisit NAFTA," what does this portend? Are words meaningless tools to obtain votes? Americans are spoiled. They wallow in freedom of uncivil speech and personal enjoyment but democracy has left the language of the people languishing as it limps off the stage of ideas. Laziness in the public schools, by the politicians, the media and generations of families has broken down the communication of ideas to the point where the wheels of wisdom have fallen off.

The average citizen listens to the politicians in the same manner in which an art lover views abstract art. Since modern art represents nothing specific, the viewer must interpret and apply his or her own meaning. There is no objective or real meaning just fuzzy interpretation. What does hope or change or a broken soul mean? Also, what do rights, duty, responsibility, the middle class, free trade or democracy really mean? Is the number of literate, questioning citizens as small as leftovers at a sumptuous meal? Is the thinking class so few they now only communicate amongst themselves? What is most alarming is that those who only have the use of words without meaning cannot even communicate amongst themselves. That’s why they are called politicians. This election season, wispy words are garnering votes. A Russian socialist observed at the turn of the 20th century that "Any fool can help the spontaneous birth of a new social order."

As Hillary Clinton said about voters, "Be careful what you wish for." Since every vote counts for a politician, the broader the language, the more useless are clear and concise, proper words. Words are tools and what they mean is important. What a candidate says and what a potential voter hears should be mutual. "In the beginning was the Word." How many of us even know what that means?