Another Phrase I Hate
Posted on August 5, 2008 by andrew
“Litmus test” isn’t quite as obnoxious as “race card”, but it’s perhaps even more meaningless. The phrase is most frequently used regarding abortion, but it’s also used in reference to other issues, as in the post I just linked (”tort reform, partial-birth abortion, and a flag-burning amendment”). Invariably, it’s used by someone advocating for a party to be something it’s not. National Democrats won’t nominate a “pro-life” candidate not because a fucking slip of paper turned red instead of blue1, but because Democrats actually care about protecting a woman’s right to choose. It’s one of the reasons many of them become Democrats.
You can call any issue a “litmus test”: “The Democrats use a person’s position on eating the intestines of live puppies as a litmus test. Shouldn’t they try to appeal to a broader coalition?” Hence, the phrase is meaningless. If you want to make a rational argument for a party to loosen its strict position on an issue, then make the argument. Otherwise, quit wasting my time.
If I encounter “litmus test” and it is not being used disdainfully, I tend to stop reading.
- I meant this to be a reference to the acid/base litmus tests we all performed in science classes, but it coincidentally carries an additional pregnancy test connotation, which may or may not make it either more relevant or more confusing in regards to the abortion issue. ↩
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[...] -I think you already know how I feel about “litmus tests”. [...]