Politicizing

I was in the car yesterday, listening to the news. NPR to be exact, because I am a raging liberal. I don't know that I have the energy to rage; I barely have the energy to make myself breakfast. But I've been told that anyone who uses newspapers, NPR, or PBS as their primary source of news is a raging liberal.

But I digress.

NPR was reporting on the election of a Democrat in a heavily Republican district in New York state. The general consensus was that this unlikely turn of events was a response to Paul Ryan's Medicare reform proposals. Some Republican argued that Democrats were "politicizing" the issue of Medicare reform, which I guess is their explanation for why they lost so badly.

And then it occurred to me. Anyone who uses the term "politicizing" or "politicized" in reference to a political issue is stupid and apparently think I'm stupid too. And no one is calling them out on it.

I did a Lexis-Nexis search of US newspapers and was told that there are over 3000 references between 1978 and today in news articles that include the terms "politicized" or "politicizing." It gave me 1000 of what Lexis considers the "most relevant." In a random, and totally unsystematic, check of three articles (I didn't say I was doing research on this), the term is used as a pejorative. Which is stupid.

If you haven't figured it out yet:

• If you are an elected official, any official action you take is political.
  
• If you are appointed by any elected official or body (including you, judges), any official action you take is political.
  
• If you propose a law, you are creating a political issue.
  
• If you discuss a proposed or existing law, you are creating a political issue.
  
• If you support a proposed or existing law, you are taking a political position.
  
• If you oppose a proposed or existing law, you are taking a political position.
  
• If you are campaigning or lobbying for any elected or appointed position, you are engaged in a political act.
• If you do any of the above in relation to a court decision, regulation, policy, or government program (including government agencies like public schools), you are making a political issue, taking a political position, or otherwise engaged in political action.

By doing any of the above, you are in fact, "making something political." You are engaged in efforts that shift power, influence, and social benefits and burdens. In fact, by proclaiming that someone else has politicized something, you are engaged in that process of politics-making.

I think the next time I hear my political representatives, or the media pundits for that matter, assert that someone has "politicized" something, if I have the opportunity I am going to ask, "As opposed to what? Is this somehow a personal issue? Is this proposed or existing law, regulation, or policy somehow separate from the political sphere? And if so, exactly how?" And if their answers are not satisfactory, I will let them know that they are insulting my intelligence and will not likely support them in the future.

Feel free to do the same.