A logical look at liberty by Stephanie E. Watson.

President Obama and his administration like to boast "bipartisan support" for certain things, simply because they had at least one Republican "cross the aisle" to support a piece of legislation sponsored by Democrats.  Obama is certainly not the first to do this; "bipartisan legislation" has been a key political boasting point for every president in the last two decades.  If a bill has "bipartisan" support, the administration proudly proclaims it as a solution that everyone can agree on, as a collectivist ideal.

The damage this is doing to public perception is frightening, but it is still reversible while the First Amendment still stands.  One way we can start a return toward the respect of multiple political views is through our word choices.  We need to be accurate, logical, and truthful rather than assuming, emotional, and conniving.

The use of "bipartisan" systematically perpetuates the assumption that there are, and only will be, exactly two political parties.

If we can change the use of this word alone, I think we can positively affect public opinion.

Of course, Republicans and Democrats are truly "bipartisan" in their efforts to give little or no credence to the mere existence of another party, preying on public apathy that this is the permanent and accepted reality.

The truth is that there are, and have always been, other voices and other views that do not align with the Republican or Democratic parties.  These voices are too often stifled because they are not backed by large marketing engines with limitless financial resources.  However, over the last decade, these voices are getting louder, in part because of the Internet.  Thanks to an increasingly educated and reasoning public, so-called "third-parties" are poised to get their voices heard both during campaigns and in the halls of local and state government.

The two-party assumption is dead.

Will you join with me in using "multipartisan" instead of "bipartisan" in conversations and writings?  How do you feel about a movement to write letters to the President, asking him  to bring "hope" to people with individual voices by replacing the word "bipartisan" in his press conferences and speeches?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7FS5B-CynM
Obama claims that he supports any program that is proven to work, “whether it’s liberal or conservative” in origin. However, the DC school voucher program is in direct contradiction to that and other claims Obama’s administration has made for “change we can believe in.”

UPDATE: As it turns out, this was probably a false claim: the teen was charged and held under regular laws, and the media was falsely alerted with regard to the Patriot Act. However, it definitely creates an emotional response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFVQ0HZz2mc