Capital News Article

Yeager, Amanda, Delegates delay changes to school board nominating process, Capital, March 4, 2016

The bill under discussion is HB172.

Snider Comment

“This is being done for political reasons,” said Del. Michael Malone, R-Crofton…. Democrats in the delegation and others have hotly criticized the change in the process as political.”

The Capital would provide a valuable service to the community if it banned the use of the word “political” as it has been used here and in countless other Capital articles.  Like a swear word, the word is used as a pejorative to convey negative emotion and accuse opponents of being hypocrites.  As it is typically used, it has about as much substantive content as our leaders’ claims to be “for truth, justice, and the American way.”  Pray, tell me who is against such values?

If the Capital insists on using the term “political,” it should define the term.  And it should ask the same of its sources who use the term. Otherwise, our public policy discussions about the school board nominating commission and other issues of democratic governance will be debased to little more than demagoguery.