How about instead of entitlements, social well-being

[quinnox]

programs, or social support programs, or there are tons of different ways to use better language than the ugly and misleading GOP speak of "entitlements".

[Just sayin is all...]

1. "Entitlements" is a legal term with meaning

Just posted this on the other thread. Signed up to correct it because everyone was getting it wrong. :)

Quote:

ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM

A federal program that guarantees a certain level of benefits to persons or other entities who meet requirements set by law, such as Social Security, farm price supports or unemployment benefits. It thus leaves no discretion with Congress on how much money to appropriate, and some entitlements carry permanent appropriations.

http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e081.htm




"Entitlement" is not a dirty word! It's a legal term that means something. -It doesn't mean it's welfare. It means it's not optional, not negotiable, not "Discretionary" spending.

If it was welfare, it would be discretionary, and they could cut it.

This guaranteed part of our budget is growing. And that is a problem. Because it has to be paid.

Just sayin is all...:)

[WhiteTara]

2. welcome to DU

:hi: Thanks for the clarification on the word entitlements.

[jtown1123]

3. it makes them sound "bad" I don't think they were called entitlements

until the Reagan era...I'd have to do some research. It's usually a word Republicans use with disdain to describe SS, MEdicare and MEdicaid. When Dems talk about these programs, they call them by their names instead of the "entitlement" word, which drips with disdain and scorn when leaving a Republican's lips.

[Just sayin is all...]

4. If you're paranoid...

That's how it sounds. But maybe you're the one twisting it into something 'bad', instead of something real that can't simply be dreamed away. The fact is, entitlements are promises that have already been made yesterday that must be paid for today.

You're making a very serious mistake by making it equivalent to 'welfare'. "Welfare" is discretionary and we get to debate whether it 'should' be paid tomorrow. You're mixing apples and oranges in your example.

[blondeatlast]

8. You have a point, but the RW "reframes" terms all the time, and I think that's what

the Op is talking about.

Welcome to DU!

[jtown1123]

20. Not paranoid and never said these programs are welfare. The word

entitlement is used by Republicans to mean conjure thoughts of lazy people and "welfare queens." When I talk about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, I call them by their actual names since the blanket term entitlement does them no justice.

[dajoki]

6. Thanks and Welcome to DU n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Thanks, and welcome!

:hi:

[Little Star]

13. "Entitlement" is a dirty word when applied to things such as

Social Security or unemployment. Those things are safety nets paid for by us. I don't care what the legal term is, it is wrong. And if congress has no discretion on how much money to appropriate they should also have no discretion on cutting funds. Just because they have loop holes doesn't make the law right or fair.

The guaranteed part of our budget is growing? Well maybe your right on that. However there are ways to make, the already stable and fully funded program of Social Security,even more secure without cutting anything from it.

Just because the law calls SS an entitlement program does not make it right and it plays right into the right wing talking points. I'm not going to play into that.

[WingDinger]

5. How about progressive, instead of liberal? A rose by any other...

[dkofos]

7. Frank Luntz says they poll poorly.

[blondeatlast]

9. Goody! another opportunity to say...

FUCK FRANK LUNTZ ALL TO HELL.

No "reframing" necessary.

[dkofos]

10. Only if it shuts him up and the PTB stop using his info.

[bobbolink]

12. Obama has made it very clear that he is on the side of those who wish to shred the safety net.

[cutlassmama]

14. Entitlement means a person is entitle to it.

[Cleita]

15. The word entitlement was invented by Republicans

to make our government insurance programs like Medicare, Unemployment and others look like welfare. They wanted those people to look like lazy good-for-nothing nobodies getting something for free from hardworking billionaires. The real entitlements are the billionaires receiving their dividend and interest checks from their investments that hard-working people earned on the job and didn't receive so Wall Street could post them as earnings and the billionaires could receive them just because they own shares.

[slackmaster]

17. It's not correct to refer to unemployment insurance as an entitlement

I'm not convinced that you are presenting a true etymology here, Cleita.

Do you have a source? Merriam-Webster gives the first known use as the year 1942, but one online etymology dictionary that looks pretty weak to me says it's been in legal use for a long time and may derive from a French word that's spelled the same way.

[Cleita]

18. I don't refer to either it or Medicare or Social Security

for that matter as an entitlements but others do. My stepdaughter has been out of work and collecting unemployment and her social group, a bunch of conservatives, have been calling it an entitlement. I told her it was insurance and to make sure she emphasizes that with her friends. Medicare is also referred to as Medicare insurance and Social Security is really no different than life insurance except that you collect while you are still living instead of being dead.

[slackmaster]

21. I don't call anything that you pay into in order to qualify for benefits an entitlement

AFDC and food stamps are entitlements. Medicare and Social Security are essentially insurance programs.

[jtown1123]

19. +1000

[slackmaster]

16. We should not be ashamed to call things by their proper names

I've never been a big fan of using warm, fuzzy euphemisms to describe important things that affect everyone.