It’s All Semantics

Author’s note: there is not a silver bullet strategy to fixing the issues Democrats are facing with their message and navigating the modern media environment. While this article explores one issue in a host of them, it’s not the only answer to our problems. Throughout By the Ballot, I plan on covering many of those issues that Democrats must tackle in order to take back the conversation and get back to winning.

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“Words—so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

- Nathaniel Hawthorne, author, Salem

“I’m tryna find the words to describe this girl without bein’ disrespectful.

Damn you a sexy bitch.”

- Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, poet, St. Louis

“Like Hamlet, all about "words, words, words"

Divide a whole into thirds, thirds, thirds

I'm a gay sea otter

I blow other dudes out of the water”

- Robert “Bo” Burnham, poet, Hamilton

Words have been a flashpoint in Democratic, liberal, and progressive circles for decades—long before Third Way’s now-infamous list of 45 “banned words and phrases” they claim Democrats should avoid. Like much of what Third Way has produced, it misses the point entirely.

We are not in a language crisis. We are in a policy and communication crisis. It doesn’t matter if we polish our language if we can’t deliver a clear message to people who need to hear it. It’s not that Democrats are too “woke,” as Rahm Emanuel and James Carville like to say—it’s that we’ve spent so much time worrying about phrasing that we’ve forgotten how to relate to ordinary voters.

Meanwhile, Republicans weaponize language with ruthless efficiency. They turn our hesitation into ammunition. Every time Democrats run from a word or cede ground on its meaning, we let conservatives define us. And when your opponent gets to decide the dictionary, you’ve already lost the argument.

The “Magic Word” Fallacy

As Dan Pfeiffer recently wrote in The Message Box, Democrats are obsessed with finding the one “perfect phrase” that will unlock voter support. We’ve fallen for the Magic Word Fallacy—the belief that if we just say the right thing, people will instantly rally behind us.

But politics doesn’t work like a Harry Potter spell. We live in an attention economy where nuance dies in 280 characters. Voters demand instant, soundbite answers to deeply complicated questions, and if they don’t hear the exact word they expect, outrage follows. Candidates panic, strategists scramble, and before long the entire conversation is about semantics instead of solutions.

Worse, Democrats internalize Twitter dogpiles as reality—even though, as we all know, “Twitter isn’t real life.” When online habits bleed into offline campaigns, we end up looking ridiculous, shaping our message around digital scolding rather than voter concerns.

Mightier than the sword?

Most of the “forbidden” words Third Way listed aren’t even in mainstream Democratic vocabulary. Average swing voters aren’t debating whether a candidate said “Latinx” or “communities of care.” Yet if you watch Fox News or right-wing podcasts, you’d think every Democrat talks exclusively in progressive buzzwords.

That’s the point: Republicans co-opt fringe language to caricature our entire party. “Woke” once meant awareness of racial injustice in Black communities. Now, it’s been twisted into a catch-all slur for anything conservatives dislike. By the time Democrats debate whether to use the word at all, we’ve already lost the frame.

And while Democrats tie ourselves in knots over phrasing, the Right gleefully normalizes slurs under the guise of “owning the libs.” They amplify their trolls, caricature our activists, and present the loudest edge cases as the Democratic mainstream. Too often, we let them.

Talking on Eggshells

The result is a politics of constant defensiveness. We run from words, terrified of being too restrictive and terrified of being careless. Ordinary people—our base voters included—feel blindsided by ever-shifting vocabulary rules.

That’s why internet personalities like Joe Rogan, Andrew Tate, and countless comedians score points by mocking “the language police.” They tap into a real frustration: people hate feeling tricked or scolded for not knowing the “right” term of the week.

The problem isn’t just word choice—it’s that conservatives have blurred the line between being corrected for harmful rhetoric and being attacked for innocent mistakes. That conflation has real political consequences.

Just Talk Like People

Democrats have drifted from their working-class, plainspoken roots. Once the party of everyday language and everyday people, we now risk sounding like academic panels in human form. Voters don’t need us to sound like walking thesauruses—they need us to sound like neighbors who get it.

That’s why Governor Tim Walz’s viral line—“these Republicans are just weird”—worked so well in 2024. It was simple, relatable, and funny. It punctured the Right’s hysteria without jargon or condescension. Democrats desperately need more of that.

And it’s why Pete Buttigieg often shines in hostile media environments. On Fox News or podcasts like Flagrant, he doesn’t use polling-tested buzzwords. He paints pictures of everyday life. One exchange captured it perfectly:

Buttigieg: “I want everyday life to be better.”

Schulz: “That’s what they want too!”

Buttigieg: “Yeah but importantly that ‘s what all the controversies are like. Like I want you to be able to get up in the morning and the first thing you do is you commute to work. And by the way if you have an EV, I want that to be affordable for you. Or if you’re on Public Transit–not to get back into the subway situation–but I want you to have good public transit to get to where you’re going. And then when you get to that job, I want you to be paid well. And if you’re about to have a kid, I want you to know that you’re going to have parental leave when you have that kid. And if you don’t want to have a kid, I want you to have the right to choose if you want to have a kid, which means access to birth control and abortion and those things that give you the freedom to decide that.”

Schulz: “That’s not bad.”

Buttigieg: “And if you already have a kid, when you pick them up at school, I want that school to be good, not having its funding slashed while they set fire to the Department of Education. And then when you get home, I want you to be in a neighborhood that is safe and where you can breathe the air because we didn’t let them get rid of the Clean Air Act. And you don’t have to think for one moment about whether the air you breathe or the water you drink is clean and clear, which actually takes a lot because it means the government has to constrain those actors who would make you unfree by polluting the air and polluting the water. And then when you go to bed, I want you to know your family is going to be fine, even if it’s a family like mine, despite there being some Supreme Court justice who wants to obliterate your family because it doesn’t match his interpretation of his religion. Like that’s the life I want everybody to be able to live.”

Schulz: “Yeah.”

Buttigieg: “And I think we can deliver that.”

It’s conversational, empathetic, and rooted in policy while still sounding human. Even skeptics conceded his point. That’s the model Democrats need to replicate: plain language with real stakes.

The Real Task

So where does that leave us? With three clear lessons:

1. Stop chasing “magic words.” Voters respond to clarity, not consultant-approved vocab.

2. Reclaim our narrative. Don’t let Republicans caricature our entire party through the fringes. Push back with our own priorities, framed simply.

3. Be relatable again. Speak like human beings. Not every statement has to read like a white paper.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not words that win elections—it’s whether voters believe you get them and will fight for their lives. And no list of banned words is going to fix that.

TL;DR

Democrats keep tying themselves in knots over “the right words” instead of focusing on clear, relatable messages that connect with voters. Groups like Third Way try to ban phrases, while Republicans weaponize language—twisting terms like “woke” into attacks and forcing Democrats to play defense.

Our obsession with semantics makes us look elitist and out of touch, while the Right dominates the narrative with simple, sticky phrases. Voters don’t want academic jargon or poll-tested buzzwords—they want plain talk that explains how policy impacts their daily lives.

When Tim Walz calls Republicans “weird” or Pete Buttigieg breaks down policy in everyday terms, it resonates. Democrats should stop chasing “magic words,” push back on GOP framing, and reclaim the conversation with clarity, empathy, and a human voice.

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By the Ballot is an opinion series published on Substack. All views expressed are solely those of the author and should not be interpreted as reporting or objective journalism or attributed to any other individual or organization. I am not a journalist or reporter, nor do I claim to be one. This publication represents personal commentary, analysis, and opinion only.