From the White House:
On October 13, 2010, the President signed into law:
H.R. 946, the “Plain Writing Act of 2010,” which requires Federal agencies to use plain writing in certain government documents that are issued to the public;
But the question is: what constitutes plain writing? How many pages of standards and guidelines will have to be written to define and govern this arcane form of language? How many regulators will be hired to enforce it? Will there be lawsuits claiming that “plain writing” is too vague and may well be subject to multiple interpretations? Will government agencies have to send their employees to “plain writing” courses or seminars, and who will pick up that tab? How will the need for plain writing–a single standard–conflict with the governmental desire for diversity? Will the President have to appoint a commissar of “plain writing”? Will plain speaking be next…or, ultimately, plain thinking? Isn’t that kind of totalitarian? And how long before Glenn Beck sees this as part of the Great Crypto-Marxist-Wilsonian Conspiracy to wreck America?
I mean, Jeez, what ever happened to common decency? Have we lost all moral bearings? Just asking.