The Liberal Glossary

You hear a common word or phrase being used and you think you know what it means. This is not the case with President Obama and the current crop of liberals and progressives. There are a few words and phrases that they have redefined. There is probably the making of a drinking game here.

The Rich: "the undeserving rich" except the middle word is silent. This group is defined based on an arbitrary annual income that is well below what is needed to actually live like a rich person. The term "rich" is only used by the left when discussing tax policy. The rich do not deserve to be rich and are not paying their fair share.

Fair Share: Taxes that someone else (the rich) should be paying. 

Give back: to take back, to tax. From the President's speech on deficit relief.

This is not because we begrudge those who've done well — we rightly celebrate their success. Rather, it is a basic reflection of our belief that those who have benefitted most from our way of life can afford to give a bit more back.

Income redistribution: to eliminate income redistribution. If a tax on the rich is eliminated then it is considered income redistribution from the poor to the rich. This relies on the assumptions that 1) The government has first claim on all of your income and 2) the "government" and the "poor" can be used interchangeably. Therefore, a tax cut that allows the rich to keep more of their money becomes an income redistribution from the poor to the rich.

Channeling tax money to support religion: A Supreme Court decision split 5-4 to allow a tax break for money donated to scholarship funds when some of the money might go to religious schools. The minority viewpoint was that this amounted to channeling tax money to support religion. Again, this depends on three assumptions. 1) The government has first claim on your money so any money so taking advantage of a tax break amounts to spending government money. 2) There is no difference between giving money to a school run by a church and directly to the church. 3) Allowing people to support the church of their choice amounts to government support for that church.

Saving Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid: Preventing any action to keep these programs solvent while vilifying anyone who points out that they are approaching insolvency.

Draconian Budget Cuts: Any cut. This can include cuts in prior year increase and reclaiming unspent money from prior years. A cut of 1% in the budget is always draconian.

Spending reductions in the tax code:  Tax breaks. From the President's deficit speech.

Kinetic Military Action: war