On Tuesday night, I heard my local NPR station interviewing a newly-elected representative. At one point, he made some reference to “common sense” policies. I don’t even remember what they were talking about, but it doesn’t matter. When someone says “common sense”, what I hear is “I don’t have any substantive arguments in favor of my position.”

This is not unique to one political party, or even to politics as a whole. In any field, “common sense” is a shorthand for “this is the only reasonable position and you’re unreasonable if you disagree with it because I said so.”  In most situations where “common sense” is deployed, reasonable people can disagree on what the sensible approach is.

In addition to silencing dissent, the phrase “common sense” also oversimplifies most issues. What seems like an obvious solution on the surface may not fit the underlying complexity. Life is rarely as simple as it seems.

If it’s really common sense, it should be easy for you to explain why. So let’s all agree to never use “common sense” again.