Byron York writes in the Washington Examiner:
Democrats set to jam immigration reform through Senate
March 28, 2013 | 8:00 pm
Given the enormity of the changes that would result from comprehensive immigration reform, Senate Democrats wouldn't try to rush a bill through the Judiciary Committee before the public gets a chance to know what's in it — would they?
In the past few days, even though proposed reform legislation from the so-called Gang of Eight hasn't even been written, there have been strong indications that that's exactly what Democrats intend to do.[More]
Reading that, I thought "York is using 'enormity' wrong." Then I thought "No, he isn't." This requires some explanation. In correct usage, enormity doesn't just mean very large, it means very bad.
e·nor·mi·ty
/i?nôrmit?/Noun
- The great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong.
- (in neutral use) The large size or scale of something: "the enormity of his intellect".
Synonyms: atrocity - monstrosity
Both Obama and Biden have got it wrong in public speeches, and as an editor, I suggest it not be used at all, because of confusion. But Amnesty, like Obamacare, is both enormous and an enormity.
That's why Democrats are willing to ram it through, as they did with Obamacare, because once it's through, Republicans won't dare repeal it. This is what Margaret Thatcher called the "ratchet effect."
In a 1996 lecture, she spoke of how
the Left claimed all the arguments of principle, and that all that remained to the Right were the arguments of accountancy — essentially, when and how socialism could be afforded.
It was this fundamental weakness at the heart of Conservatism which ensured that even Conservative politicians regarded themselves as destined merely to manage a steady shift to some kind of Socialist state.[Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture ("Liberty and Limited Government"),January 11, 1996 ]
The Democrats, with the aid of Marco Rubio and his friends on the GOP side, plan to legalize millions of illegals, and after that's done, they'll say "Silly conservatives, of course we have to raise taxes!" That's why it's both kinds of enormity.
