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July 29, 2009

Political PowerPhrase: Let’s look at the actual text

What do you say when someone goes on a rant about a potential bill that is more based on fear and manipulation than it is on fact?

My reader Lee sent this in.

Friends and relatives have been emailing me frantic rants describing the impending horrors that will fall on all of us as soon as “Obama’s healthcare” reform legislation passes.

I reply by asking that we “look at the actual text” of the draft bills being considered, and include a link to the text.

I then go into a detailed and specific fact-based analysis of their concerns, based on what the draft bill actually says, rather than the hyperbole and demagoguery surrounding it.

Even if Lee gets no takers, I read this as a success story because it shifts the dialogue away from fear mongering, even if it doesn’t move it into factual considerations.

For more Political PowerPhrases, get my eBook Unite and Concur: How to stop arguing and start talking about politics.

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