Listening to the "Beltway Boys" on Brit Hume's show brings to mind an ongoing frustration with the debate.

Look, tax-rate cut fans (both libertarian and conservatives).

Expunge completely from your vocabulary the phrase "tax cuts." There's no sensible way to talk about this concept, because it's an impossible task. The government has no power to reduce taxes, at least when it comes to income. All that it can do is to reduce tax rates. Reducing tax rates doesn't necessarily result in reduced taxes, and increasing tax rates doesn't necessarily result in increased taxes.

It's like the video games that allow you to control velocity, but not position. Actually, it's not even like that, because physics is physics, and you can learn how to get somewhere with a velocity controller, but economics is unpredictable.

Those of us who want to promote economic growth have to change the vocabulary, and get people to stop talking about "tax cuts," because there's no such thing in any predictable way. Doing so may make it easier to persuade people to support lower rates, and an increase in wealth for everyone.

Good point. The use of the proper word can be
very powerful political medicine in the media age.

"Bum"="Homeless person".

Define the terms and you've got the half the battle won.

Unfortunately, most of the war is already lost.

A reduction in the planned rate of increase of spending in future years is now called a budget cut.

It's going to take a lot of work.

A few years ago I would have thought it was impossible to change the terminology thrown around in the press--when reductions in welfare benefit increases were routinely labeled 'cuts' in the MSM. I guess this still happens to some degree, but I have noticed a reduction lately--perhaps it's the influence of bloggers and alt media.
It does seem half of motivating spineless GOP congressmen is framing the debate positively for them. Usually the White House has to do this, which means it rarely happens.

Now if only if the RNC would get on board with this kind of stuff...