I don’t agree with everything Ralph Nader stands for, but he’s right about a troubling trend in American politics: a political language pollution by what he calls “linguistic swindling.” That means using confusing language to hide the real nature of something.

    Political strategist Frank Lentz said, “If we talk about ‘pain,’ we lose. We invoke a ‘better future,’ we win.” An example is what Congress named the “Common Sense Product Liablility Reforms Act,” but Nader calls it the “Death to Americans Act.”

    You see, telling the truth is important to God. God frowned on warping words in the Old Testament and the New Testament. When you attempt to fool people with words—double-speak or advertising or political rhetoric or whatever—that’s called lying. The Good Book says, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.”

HEARTLIGHT(R) Magazine is a ministry of loving Christians and the Westover Hills church of Christ.
Edited by Phil Ware and Paul Lee.
Article copyright © 1995-96, Dr. Paul Faulkner. Produced by Ambassador Advertising Agency.
Design copyright © 1996-97, Heartlight, Inc., 8332 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX 78759.
May be reprinted and reused for non-commercial purposes only if copyright credits are appropriately displayed.
HEARTLIGHT and the flared heart design are service marks of Heartlight, Inc.