Why the word "reform" scares me.

[Dispatcher]

Nowdays, we hear a lot of talk about reform. You hear about banking reform, Medicare reform, Social Security reform, ethics reform, election reform, etc.
The problem with the word "Reform" is that when politicians use it, it almost always means "do away with".
During the Clinton years, we had welfare reform. Basically, welfare was just done away with. The poor can still get food stamps but that's about it.
Clearly there were problems with welfare. But it wasn't reformed, it was gutted. Then there was Bush talking about Social Security and medicare reform. But even old people are not stupid...they figured out that Bush intended to cut or privatize Social Security, and they were all over Bush like crap on velcro. A lot of older people vote so he backed off.
Many people would not be afraid of the word "reform" if it really meant positive change. Until then, reform is like a snake in the garden that people want to either kill or avoid altogether.

[kinggovernor]

gutting the social welfare system is positive change IMO

[Rouger2]

I agree you better be carefull when people start talking about reforming something.