Sloppy language leads to sloppy thought, and sloppy thought to sloppy legislation.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.
I'm against sloppy, emotional thinking.
Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
Good legislation should bring clarity and not confusion.
However old-fashioned and right-wing this may sound, the American genius for language lies in understatement, in saying things simply, pointedly and quickly, and in making new and clean and swift what otherwise might be ponderous, round and slow.
The common faults of American language are an ambition of effect, a want of simplicity, and a turgid abuse of terms.
Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.
A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.'
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.
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