since what is really meant is "reducing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits."
Yet it is misused all the time, and not just because two words are shorter than seven.
The corporate media and their one-percent Beltway Villagers know that telling the truth about "entitlement reform" -- ever-higher eligibility ages, lower and fewer benefits, thousands of dead poor people, etc. -- would be the political death of this kicking-down "reform" they love.
So they, and their Very Serious People allies in the Republican Party, have normalized this Gingrichian abuse of the word "reform."
"Reform" is a positive word, meaning, according to dictionary.com, "the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."
Most Democrats would rightly consider themselves reformers, as we should. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bedrock Democratic safety net programs that were genuine reforms when enacted, and are not in any meaningful way "wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."
We should challenge every use of this misleading term, and demand that the politicians and media types who use it specify how they will cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
And estimate how many people will die prematurely as a result.