Posted by BY J E SOLOMON
The word “gang” has a notoriously negative connotation. It’s a word no respectable group of people in the world will love to be associated with. Yet the United States Senate is proud to have a gang. It’s been around since July 19, 2009.
They call it the “Gang of Six” and it’s a bipartisan group of three Democrats and three Republicans. The current gang members have been tasked to draft a realistic proposal on the US debt reduction that can pass the Congress and avoid President Obama’s veto pen.
So the Senate needed six gang members to solve the debt crisis? What happens if they don’t succeed? Will the Senate initiate more gang members? Are we going to have a “Mob” also in the House of Representatives? I don’t understand politicians. Sometimes they seem to take their job and their employers (the electorate) for granted.
Of all the complimentary words that are synonymous with the word group – alliance, association, body, brotherhood, circle, class, committee, company, etc, etc – the Senators chose the rather uncomplimentary word gang. Was it for fun? Were they serious? Even clique or syndicate doesn’t sound well for a Senate group. And yet they’re okay with the word gang, which then qualifies the six members to be called gang members or gangsters.
Let’s take a look at common definitions of the word gang. The Free Dictionary has the following among others:
* A group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit.
* A group of adolescents who band together, especially a group of delinquents.
* (Informal) A group of people who associate regularly on a social basis.
* A group of people who associate together or act as an organized body, especially for criminal or illegal purposes.
Which of the above meanings of gang apply to the Senate “Gang of Six”? It’s true that they’ve been put together for mutual protection and benefit of both parties. But are they criminals or hoodlums? No. Are they adolescents and delinquents? No. They do associate regularly, though, but surely not on social basis or for illegal purposes, unless they regard the Senate as a social club. They’re in the Senate for the business of helping the President run the country. And it’s real business, not a social matter.
Perhaps those who coined the term never thought of it, but the use of the word gang is in very bad taste. It’s like giving gangsters the High Five. And also telling the youth it’s okay to have gangs.