Words and Phrases We Could Do Without

Don’t let Trump abuse “war”: The president goes full Orwell in an effort to destroy constitutional order

The misuse and distortion of “war” (as in the war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on cancer, the war on terror, the war on Christianity) is at the root of many constitutional deformities and violations of civil liberties. Invocation of “war” outside of battlefield combat is almost always a blinking red light, alerting us that something is amiss. If every issue (e.g., crime, border security, drug addiction) can be elevated to the status of “war,” it enables power-seeking politicians and their minions to throw the term around like rice at a wedding, in an attempt to justify extraordinary powers and abuses. It’s wartime! It’s an emergency! (Be nearly as worried when politicians start bandying about “emergency.”)