Marylaine Block: The Game of the Name:

‘One of the things that makes me despair of the Democratic party is that its leaders don’t understand why their own issues are always discussed on terms set by Republicans. They simply do not grasp the power of naming: those who name a problem define it, decide which field the game will be played on, and set the rules of play. Because Republicans have been so good at naming issues, Democrats have found themselves voting to keep the death tax, not the estate tax. Since Republicans also have an uncanny ability to get there first with a catchy name for any issue, and to get all of their members to use that name and spout the party line, they constantly force Democratic leaders to react to Republican definitions rather than to define their own issues.

Democrats haven’t grasped the fact that the name game can be played by more than one side…’ Vocabula Review