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Idea#871

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Making Government Operations More Open »

Use plain English in all government documents.

Why Is This Idea Important?: This idea is applicable to more than the one category I am allowed to choose in this input form. Transparency in government is only possible if we have a common understanding of a proposal or issue. Common understanding is best promoted through the use of plain English. Access to the government will increase as greater numbers of people understand what the government is saying. This will be the case, not just for people with less education, but for well-educated people unfamiliar with bureaucratic jargon. And participation in government will increase when more people understand the issues being proposed or discussed. Finally, the government's consideration of issues will become more efficient because the use of plain English will eliminate many of the conflicts and misunderstandings that arise out of poorly drafted documents.

Require the use of plain English in documents produced by the federal government. Eliminate the overuse of acronyms, bureaucratic boilerplate language, business-speak (especially in government contracting), legalese, and most importantly - poorly written documents.

This proposal does not seek to dumb down the government. Even the most complex ideas and subject matter can be stated in plain English.

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Submitted by pxc 2 years ago

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Comments (1)

  1. teineitalia1 said:

    This is an excellent idea which should be adopted ASAP. Government gobbledy-gook has gotten out of hand; tired and overused phrases, boilerplate language, too many acronyms, legalese, all make documents and memos hard to decipher and keep people in the dark. Transparency and simplicity should go hand in hand.

    2 years ago
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