The Power of Words
Words are important as they transmit ideas. Santa Claus: I just stuck a fat bearded man in a red suit into your mind. Sorry, you’ll get over it soon enough. Of course, I didn’t do it by myself, you had a lot of training when you were a child to get that image of the red suited man into your head. I just used the words to conjure him up in your mind. He may have even come with some memories that you associate with him.
We use words to transmit ideas and if the person to whom you are speaking has a similar set of ideas and associations, then you’ll need fewer words to communicate your ideas or concepts. As we share ideas and reduce many words into simpler phrases, we need to be careful not to introduce a faulty concept. Sometime ideas can be intentionally twisted by a skilled propagandist; other times, a simple error enters naturally – it would be hard to tell the difference.
A lie repeated frequently whether intentionally or accidentally will appear (over time) to become the truth. Propagandists know this and use the technique. Sometimes the lies that we accept are just simple shortcuts.
We know and believe that we are created with inalienable rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We also know that the Constitution established the government with the intent of protecting our inalienable rights. You will notice here that it is the people that created the Constitution which established the government.
We know and believe that if you intend to have a horse move a cart, your results will be much improved if you put the cart behind the horse. There is a shortcut we use regularly and we must stop using because we are telling a lie without even knowing it. The shortcut is a simple phrase which really means; the second amendment to the US constitution guarantees my inalienable right to defend life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Wow that is a mouthful, say it with me: the Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees my inalienable right to defend life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We all know the shortcut, which I will not speak, my BLANK rights. Pick an amendment or throw in the whole book; can you see the problem with this shortcut? Remember the order of things, what is the horse and what is the cart?
That which you were born with is the thing that comes first; your inalienable rights. With their inalienable rights, the people created a government through a document called the Constitution.
As you can see we have rights and we formed a government to protect those inalienable rights.
Let’s look at our shortcut again; I have BLANK rights. The shortcut suggest that your rights come from the Constitution which of course is backwards; the shortcut suggests that without the Constitution you don’t have those rights. Sorry pal, you’re out of luck; without government you have no rights is the message.
So, is this the idea that you want to transmit to your friends and family, that government gives you your rights? I know you don’t, so please stop spreading this false idea. Avoid the shortcut as best you can; it won’t be easy. Remember it is drilled deeply into your brain but if you pay attention you can stop yourself and transmit the correct message; my pre-existing inalienable right protected by the Constitution.
NH State Rep. Mike Sylvia
Belknap Dist. 6
Belmont
