We the government

I was rummaging through my bookshelves this morning. And ran across a book by Deborah Tannen, "Talking 9 to 5". I recall reading with joy many of her insites into the way we speak to each other. Men and women of course but also men and men, women and women.

Google showed me that Ms. Tannen now has her own website. And that she is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown. She also wrote an excellent essay on the words that our leaders choose to tell us their stance.

I find that her words ring true for me. As a voter its easy to get into a mind set of its the me against the government. I look at my paycheck each week and see the price government has set. As I sit in traffic waiting to get to work I get angry at all the time wasted just sitting on the freeway.

Government made that freeway possible. The freeway has done so well that many thousands of people rely on it to make their daily living. And now the freeway is overloaded. Government will eventually make the freeway wider. And my commuter life will once again be easier. But I must wait.

This week a hurricane went through Haiti. It killed more than a thousand. When I read the descriptions of the situation it seems like many more will die because of disease and lack of food. The citizens of Haiti lack so many of the things we Americans have come to expect. We expect them because we have grown used to what our government makes possible.

Thank you Ms. Tannen for pointing out how our speech reflects our state of mind. Our political leaders need to tell us, and show us that the political system they lead is not 'on our backs'. But is an extension of our own efforts to make a living.


Here's a link in case you want to pursue it:
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=8144