The safety net
Carlin, David R. Jr.
TIE SAFETY NET SEEING BENEATH IT PRACTICED observers of politics, sensible fellows that they are, believe that if you want to understand what's really going on in the mind of a politician, pay...
...That some people might be forced out out action permanently, that they either no longer have what it takes to climb the ladder one mote time or never had the talent for high wire acrobatics in the first place - such possibilities are not contemplated by the metaphor...
...It's not the homely tip of the iceberg that works so magically on us...
...In fact, you'll probably know mure of his worldview than he does himself, since in nine cases out of ten he won't be aware of the profound subconscious beliefs and values the metaphor has touched in him...
...The most fascinating example to come along in many a day is that favorite of the Reagan administration - the "social safely net...
...Actions speak louder than words...
...As a practicing politician, I agree - with one important reservation...
...The full significance of a political metaphor doesn't lie on its surface, revealing itself to every casual observer...
...Aerialists who fall, after all, don't take an afternoon's, snooze in the net...
...I'm referring to political metaphors - expressions such as "ship of state," "crusade against crime," and "war on poverty...
...By contrast, someone like the union man, who's interested in job security and a pension, is far from ideal...
...It's a safety net, remember, not a hammock...
...There's one category of political speech, I think, in which the opposite is true, in which words speak louder than actions...
...David R. Carlin, Jr., is a senator in the Rhode Island state legislature...
...but its vast and mysterious underwater portion...
...Likewise, because of this subconscious appeal, political metaphors are especially effective tools of persuasion Get a man to adopt a metaphor and he's on the road, aware of it or not, to accepting implications he might well have resisted...
...If you know a politician's favorite metaphors and deduce some of their unstated implications - their underwater parts - you're well on the way to knowing his woridview...
...This list of implications can go on and on...
...Safety nets in the literal sense, of course, are found in circuses, where they're intended to catch performers who slip and fall while engaged in the risky business of negotiating high wires and trapezes...
...2. The metaphor also implies that the condition of welfare dependency should be quite temporary...
...The above sample should show you what I mean DAVID R. CARUN, JR...
...The easiest way to do this, of course, is to require recipients to wear uniforms or badges...
...That way recipients will be forced to adopt a spare and impoverished life style, and anyone with halfwa) decent eyesight will be able to spot them a hundred yards off...
...Think for a moment about the view of government, society, and human nature implied by this metaphor...
...The ideal citizen, it follows, must he the entrepreneur who is constantly risking capital in one new venture after another...
...And so is the corporate bureaucrat, who wants to move steadily and securely up the ladder, while building up his tax-sheltered annuity...
...1. In comparing the beneficiary of any of the numerous social welfare programs referred to by "safety net" label with someone who has slipped from the high wire of trapeze, the metaphor compares the rest of us with performers who at present happen to be maintaining our balance hut might - for this is in the very nature of aerial acts and adds greatly to their excitement - lose it at any moment It suggests that the normal mate fur a non-recipient of welfare assistance should he one not of economic security hut of economic risk...
...The metaphor implies there should be equally clear marks distinguishing welfare beneficiaries from everybody else...
...No, they bounce right off, and before the audience can catch its breath they're ascending the ladder for one more try...
...3. In circuses there's a great distance separating the safety net from the performers up above, and there's never any doubt as to who's up and who's down...
...TIE SAFETY NET SEEING BENEATH IT PRACTICED observers of politics, sensible fellows that they are, believe that if you want to understand what's really going on in the mind of a politician, pay attention to what he does, not what he says...
...But since this strategy (even if the Nazis hadn't given it a bad name) won't do m a society like ours, a second-best solution will have to be resorted to: we can he especially stingy with welfare benefits...
Vol. 109 • May 1982 • No. 10
