Politics and Language, edited by Max J. Skidmore and Andrew R. Cline, is built upon a similar framework to Skidmore’s 1972 work, Word Politics:
Essays on Language and Politics (Palo Alto: James E. Freel and Associates). In keeping with its predecessor, this new volume brings together many of the most thoughtful and provocative essays and articles that together emphasize the complex interrelationship of language, thought, and action. In addition to scholarly and journalistic essays, the selections include editorials and commentary on contemporary issues.
The sources are highly varied. Some are popular; some technical. Some are light; some deadly serious. All center on the language, as well as the actions, of politics.
In 1972, the year of Richard Nixon’s landslide re-election, America was struggling fiercely in Vietnam while protests were raging at home. The language of political discourse suffered drastically. The situation was unprecedented, and political rhetoric reflected the turmoil. In 2006, following the election of George W. Bush to a second term as President of the United States–hardly a landslide in this instance–the situation is less tumultuous but, perhaps, more dangerous. America again is involved in a struggle abroad. Protests do not rage as they did during Nixon’s administration, but there nonetheless is a profound sense of unease. Although the country’s unease does not compare with its earlier turmoil, its political discourse suffers.
The struggle among competing values forms the essence of politics. The ways in which societies react to their languages-and use language to define and fight for values–is also part of that essence. This collection will have served its purpose if it calls attention to the importance of language to understanding the politics of the early 21st century.
