Last night the president showed us he had learned a new word, or at least his speechwriters had. The word was EMPOWER. He used it 11 times. That's a lot of times for Bush to use a three syllable word in a speech, so I figure it must be significant.
Back in the days when I was a psychotherapist, my colleagues used that word a lot, and, contrarian that I am, I always hated it. To me, it's one of those words that really means nothing.
"What does it mean?" I used to ask my fellow therapists. "How do you empower someone exactly?" Whereupon they would look at me like I was a heretic, or they would give me a lecture on the specific type of therapy they used to achieve said empowerment. I still maintained it was psychobabble.
"Empower" is one of those words that really can mean whatever you want it to mean. I suspect Bush wasn't well acquainted with the word. But in conservative parlance, the word "empower" certainly does have meaning, and it usually means "you're going to have to do it yourself because we in the government certainly aren't going to help."
So I am going to decode the 11 uses of the word "empower" in the State of the Union speech. I will present the exact sentence in which the word "empower" was used, followed by what each sentence actually meant to the conservative Republicans in the House chamber who were listening and applauding madly.
"So in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures." (Meaning: you're on your own; we in the government aren't going to help. Besides, we're much better at destroying the lives of people - like in Iraq or New Orleans - than we are at improving them.)
"To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy." (Meaning: rich people shouldn't have to pay taxes so they can use that money to get even richer and create jobs where they pay minimum wage, provided they can't find enough illegal workers to pay under the table.)
"On housing, we must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership and empower them to weather turbulent times in the housing market." (Meaning: we said we favored an "ownership society" but that didn't mean we were going to regulate lenders and mortgage brokers, so if you were dumb enough to take on one of those stupid sub-prime loans with the low teaser rates, and now you can't afford payments with the new interest rate, well that's just one of the risks of home ownership.)
"To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options." (Meaning: we encourage the pharmaceutical companies to advertise on television so you'll be sure and know about the newest drugs, but we won't regulate the insurance industry or the pharmaceutical industry, and we certainly won't do anything to keep the cost of insurance down. If you're not willing to work an extra job to afford health insurance, well that's your problem.)
"On education, we must trust students to learn if given the chance and empower parents to demand results from our schools." (Meaning: ?....Trust students to learn if given the chance? …I have no clue what this means; it's gibberish. )
"On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas." (Meaning: the American workers who still work in the ever shrinking manufacturing sector in the United States are working harder than ever, but those jobs will be gone soon. Except of course for the jobs in the arms industry, which we intend to keep growing. But never fear, once we pass those free trade agreements and we export your job, you will be able to buy more cheap stuff at Wal Mart.)
"To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology." (Meaning: This sounds good but I don't really mean it. Dick and I would lose a lot of money if we stopped our dependence on oil, and our buddies in the industry would be really pissed, so what I really mean is let's drill in Alaska and all over the country to find more oil, and invade a couple more Middle Eastern countries so we can get our hands on our oil that unfairly ended up under their soil.)
"To keep America competitive into the future, we must trust in the skill of our scientists and engineers and empower them to pursue the breakthroughs of tomorrow." (Meaning: I don't really believe in science, but I'm saying this because it sounds good to those who do. Anyway the world is ending soon, so it doesn't really matter what I say about science.)
"On matters of science and life, we must trust in the innovative spirit of medical researchers and empower them to discover new treatments while respecting moral boundaries." (Meaning: If you send me another bill to fund embryonic stem cell research I will veto it again.)
"On matters of justice, we must trust in the wisdom of our Founders and empower judges who understand that the Constitution means what it says." (Meaning: the Constitution is just a piece of paper – you don't expect me to have read the whole thing, do you? Just because I haven't read the Constitution doesn't mean my judges haven't, and I trust them to interpret it whatever way Dick wants them to. And he says they have to favor corporations and executive power. )
"In communities across our land, we must trust in the good heart of the American people and empower them to serve their neighbors in need." (Meaning: entitlement programs must be ended.)
