I don’t know how to feel about this on-going gripe that the Democrats are bad at naming important legislative agenda items, while the Republicans appear to be excellent at it. For example: death panels, death tax, etc, while we’re coming up with “stimulus packages” and “SCHIP.”
On one hand, I get it. It’s easier to sell something with a catchier title.
But I also dig the notion that the Democratic Party doesn’t necessarily talk down to people and continues to press on with this earnest, often mistaken, notion that Americans are smart enough to understand wonkier names for things. The “public option” is what it is. A health insurance option that’s publicly administered. Simple and self-explanatory (if you know the context and back story, that is).
I’m just not totally convinced that we need to behave like Republicans with all of their creepy Orwellian speak. While it might be slightly more difficult to sell our policies, I also think it keeps the bar high. It’s not patronizing. Put in metaphorical terms, at some point adults need to stop referring to their reproductive organs as “wee-wees” and “pee-pees” even though these euphemisms are easier to remember — for kids who are too bashful to say the actual biological terms, or for parents who don’t want them to. That just about sums up the Republican approach, doesn’t it: keep them ignorant.
But if we have to come up with a catchier, easier-to-sell name for the public option, how about the “Great American Plan.” I want to sign up for the Great American Plan! Wouldn’t you? I mean, it’s great, it’s American and it’s a plan which sounds active and assertive! And together it defines you as a great American — with a plan. A more medical variation could be the “Healthy American Plan.” But I prefer “great.”
Democrats can do this. We practically have the market cornered on creative people. Though the question still remains: should we?
