Plain language in a democracy
Just taking a second to vent my frustration about the lack of plain language on the ballot I read this morning. Here’s a sample.
As someone with an earned doctorate in English linguistics and writing, I would place myself near the top of any chart displaying literacy skills among US citizens. But I had no idea what Alabama Amendment Number 4 meant when I read it. I had to do some digging to figure out that voting “yes” means:
Remove all racist language from the Constitution of Alabama!
Today’s ballot included many amendments designed to clean up our state constitution. That’s a worthy effort. I can’t justify my apolitical leanings . . . But it really is hard not to be cynical about government by the people when the people can’t understand what government is saying!
