| From the Michigan League for Human Services: “Reform” seems to have become the magic word in Lansing. If you want support for a proposal, call it a reform. If you are putting out an agenda, call it a list of reforms. Why? Because polls and focus groups have shown that the word “reform” resonates well with the public. I thought I knew what a reform was, but because it seems to be used in so many different ways these days, I thought I’d better check. According to Dictionary.com, a reform is “the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory.” So I guess a reform really depends on your perspective—whether something is wrong, corrupt or unsatisfactory in the first place.
If you look at how the word is constructed, "reform" literally means to form something all over again. To shape it anew. You reform it, you change its construction to perform the same basic function as before but in a different way. Please note that this does not include cutting someone's pay and benefits. That isn't reforming anything. It's just a way to pretend that you've changed something by giving less money to the people expected to make the end results you desire come to fruition. You haven't reform a fire department by cutting the pay of the firefighter by 5 percent. You're just giving the firefighter 5 percent less money to go fight the same fires he was fighting yesterday when his salary was 5 percent higher. You haven't reformed Michigan State University by giving Tom Izzo 5 percent less ... oh wait, is his pay included in Mike Bishop's proposal? |
