By Paul Weiser
Too often we give national problems appealing but misleading names - not only misidentifying them but implying wrong solutions. Everything becomes clear, our actions effective rather than counterproductive, when we get the names right.
For example, we call our retaliation against 9/11 and other Islamist attacks the "Global War on Terror." This is nonsense not only because terror(ism) is a tactic, not an enemy. It's nonsense because the enemy in this war is Islamic jihad against modern civilization. President Bush spoke more truly than cowards could stomach when he named our war a "crusade" at its outset: victory will come only as nations currently suffering under Islam reduce it to a tolerant Judaeo-Christian denomination, distinct from governance aside from providing comfortably vague civilizing sentiments. We would then identify not just the Iranians but the Saudis as our ultimate enemies - and only Islamic liberal reformers as our allies.
More subtle but equally pernicious is calling the problem of unassimilated Mexicans in America "illegal immigration." True, they got here by crossing borders illegally - but the true name of the enemy is not "illegal immigrants" but "illegal residents." Understanding that, we can formulate policies which identify these illegal residents and absolutely deny them all access to wages, housing, medical care, welfare, schooling, transportation, banking, money transfers, even their foreign language seen or heard. With such policies in place a border wall becomes almost unnecessary: who'd come to America illegally if he knew he'd starve and be unable to remit money back to Mexico even if he found it in the street? Rusty barbed wire and a warning sign would do.
The same principal applies to "homelessness" (the problem is non-viable behavior) and "poverty" (shiftlessness and remediable bad luck). Get the name right and insoluble problems become soluble with properly focused effort.
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