Have you ever wondered what would happen to our lives if all of a sudden people decided to stop being dishonest? The cynic would claim that such an event could be the beginning of mass violence, murder, suicide and economic collapse. They would claim that our society, nay, the entire world is deeply rooted in a culture of deception. People have been conditioned to not only accept the little lies we consistently tell each other, but have come to expect them to the point that, when confronted with actual truth, they cannot process it.
When Bill Clinton faced the news camera and shook his finger at America while lying about his affair with Monica Lewinski, it was apparent, even to his most fervent followers that he was not being honest. Later, it was revealed that very few of his published honors and accomplishments were based in actual fact. That revelation has done little, if any to harm his ongoing career after the White House.
George Bush the elder also lied to America in much the same way. The only difference was that his lie was economic rather than lurid, but being a Republican in a country controlled by liberal media and thought police, his punishment was swift and politically devastating…for about four years and then the previous-mentioned liar came in.
Al Gore has to be the champ when it comes to spinning falsehoods, though John Kerry and his imagined heroism comes in a close second. Global Warming is simply the greatest hoax pushed upon the world stage…period. Nothing else even comes close. The most recent guffaw is how Gore and his fellow Warmingites explain that the current cooling trend is nothing more than a prime example as how “warming” is affecting the earth. Yes and, Glen Beck said it best, “Exxon’s massive profits are simply an example of how little money they are making.” Try telling the people in Fargo they are in danger of dying from global warming. The last temp there was several degrees below zero.
I remember the Spotted Owl brouhaha. One of the last jobs I did as a sign shop owner involved a Circle K store with an occupied owl nest in its sign. Seems Spotted Owls can only survive in old growth Circle K forests.
Here in Nevada, I tried proposing an immigration reform bill. It wasn’t the Democrats who opposed it, it was the Republicans. They claimed I was trying to bankrupt the state. These legislators are also people who claim to love the constitution. They claim to be moral and to love the law. They lie. They are not concerned about business being able to make ends meet as much as they are concerned about the next campaign contribution and their ability to spend it in nonpolitical goodies.
The truth is expensive and it can be inconvenient, but it will never disappoint and it will never cheat. So we kick out all the liars. Will that ruin our country? What do you think would be the economic picture if every politician upheld the truth and went after those who cheated, lied and stole? So we wouldn’t have Bush, Cheney, Reid and Pelosi. So what? Is any one so naive to believe they are the best we can get?
Showing posts with label lies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lies. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
There is no First Amendment Right to Lie
The news about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his retailing of Obama’s Senate seat has spread across the news media at light speed. What is most surprising about this is the number of people shocked at this revelation. Apparently quite a few people in this country are still under the impression that most politicians are honest, decent people. We are still, obviously, a nation of Pollyanna’s. Of course, the election of Obama proves that contention.
In the past a few courageous representatives had the cahonies to offer up bills that would have mandated honesty in political speech. The reaction of their peers was, to say the least, telling. In strident tones akin to how Obama’s pastor delivers a sermon, these men and women were dressed down as fools at best and traitors to the American way of life at worst. Illinois is not the only bastion of corruption in the country. Washington DC has been offering graduate courses in the discipline for nearly two centuries. Here in my home state of Nevada we have a sign dedicating a government building. On the sign are the names of the County Commissioners that were sitting in office at that time. Of the seven on that list, four are now serving prison terms.
When I served in the Nevada Legislature, I worked up the number of legislators I felt could be counted on to keep their word, regards of the financial or political cost. The list was considerably longer at the beginning of my term than at the end.
Expediency now rules that day. I have been told more often than not buy sitting politicians that unless I am willing to compromise my integrity, I have no hope of ever gaining another political office. The big campaign donors will not support someone who has standards. Sadly, I have come to believe them.
The First Amendment to the Constitution reads thusly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
You will notice that speech is the third clause in this contract with the American People. The Founding Fathers felt that dealing with religion was more important. (That revelation alone would cause a riot in some universities.) You will also notice that “false speech” is not mentioned. Simply because lying is not listed does not mean it is included in the freedom of speech. Some lawyers are paid per day what most if us consider a nice quarterly wage to research contextual intentions in our country’s founding documents. A very brief read-through will show that lying was condemned by every member of the constitutional convention. In fact, “dealing falsely” was one of the reasons for the seceding of the Americas from the British Empire. So why do our governments, State and Federal, bend over so far to protect liars? Why do they react so violently when honesty is suggested as a mandated item in political performance?
The reason is that dishonesty has become an ingrained part of the American way of life. We begin with the “little white lie” to protect someone’s feelings, and when enough of those have numbed our conscience, we move on to larger and larger lies, including the ones we tell our spouses and the IRS. Perhaps this is why Sarah Palin was so viciously attacked by women’s groups and continues to be so, including in the funny pages.
Some say a politician who is “too honest” is a danger because of the diplomatic repercussions. People are forgetting the legacy of Ronald Reagan. He refrained from telling even the little white lies, managing rather to place the uncomfortable truth into true diplomatic terms, adding a touch of humor and thus adding to his respect.
Today our broadcast media is filed with lies…most of them commercials for items that we not only don’t need but could be potentially fatal if used. The purveyors of these products hide behind their perverted view of the First Amendment as protection and those whose duty it is to police the airwaves sit back and let the crooks get away with their crimes. It was once said that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will come to believe it. That day has indeed come and I don’t see it getting any better until the American Voter wakes up.
In the past a few courageous representatives had the cahonies to offer up bills that would have mandated honesty in political speech. The reaction of their peers was, to say the least, telling. In strident tones akin to how Obama’s pastor delivers a sermon, these men and women were dressed down as fools at best and traitors to the American way of life at worst. Illinois is not the only bastion of corruption in the country. Washington DC has been offering graduate courses in the discipline for nearly two centuries. Here in my home state of Nevada we have a sign dedicating a government building. On the sign are the names of the County Commissioners that were sitting in office at that time. Of the seven on that list, four are now serving prison terms.
When I served in the Nevada Legislature, I worked up the number of legislators I felt could be counted on to keep their word, regards of the financial or political cost. The list was considerably longer at the beginning of my term than at the end.
Expediency now rules that day. I have been told more often than not buy sitting politicians that unless I am willing to compromise my integrity, I have no hope of ever gaining another political office. The big campaign donors will not support someone who has standards. Sadly, I have come to believe them.
The First Amendment to the Constitution reads thusly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
You will notice that speech is the third clause in this contract with the American People. The Founding Fathers felt that dealing with religion was more important. (That revelation alone would cause a riot in some universities.) You will also notice that “false speech” is not mentioned. Simply because lying is not listed does not mean it is included in the freedom of speech. Some lawyers are paid per day what most if us consider a nice quarterly wage to research contextual intentions in our country’s founding documents. A very brief read-through will show that lying was condemned by every member of the constitutional convention. In fact, “dealing falsely” was one of the reasons for the seceding of the Americas from the British Empire. So why do our governments, State and Federal, bend over so far to protect liars? Why do they react so violently when honesty is suggested as a mandated item in political performance?
The reason is that dishonesty has become an ingrained part of the American way of life. We begin with the “little white lie” to protect someone’s feelings, and when enough of those have numbed our conscience, we move on to larger and larger lies, including the ones we tell our spouses and the IRS. Perhaps this is why Sarah Palin was so viciously attacked by women’s groups and continues to be so, including in the funny pages.
Some say a politician who is “too honest” is a danger because of the diplomatic repercussions. People are forgetting the legacy of Ronald Reagan. He refrained from telling even the little white lies, managing rather to place the uncomfortable truth into true diplomatic terms, adding a touch of humor and thus adding to his respect.
Today our broadcast media is filed with lies…most of them commercials for items that we not only don’t need but could be potentially fatal if used. The purveyors of these products hide behind their perverted view of the First Amendment as protection and those whose duty it is to police the airwaves sit back and let the crooks get away with their crimes. It was once said that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will come to believe it. That day has indeed come and I don’t see it getting any better until the American Voter wakes up.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Do politicians lie?
Do politicians lie or are they merely forgetful? After listening to the latest batch of political ads, perhaps the question should be rephrased to, do politicians know how to tell the truth?
Out here in Nevada we have a woman who sounds like she should be living in the Deep South. Her accent is so up front she makes Paula Dean of the Food Network sound like a Midwesterner. Dina Titus is running against incumbent Congressman Jon Porter and the TV ads are flying fast and furious.
Porter ran an ad dripping with noir images in black and white. One of the indictments against Titus was that she voted to give herself a 300% raise in her legislative pension. On its face this is true. Titus was a member of the Nevada Legislature that raised the pension from 25 cents to 75 cents. What Porter’s ad doesn’t mention is that the raise was passed with nearly unanimous support from both parties. There are plenty of other bits of baggage he could go after, but why tell the truth when lies are so much more interesting?
Titus responds with the same old lefty talking point that Porter voted in lockstep with Bush. She fails to mention that every single bill the Democrats are complaining about are also bills the majority in Congress passed. The majority happens to be Democrat. In essence, do what I say, don’t do what I do. She also claims she passed a property tax cap. Well…not exactly. She wanted a much higher cap and argued for that and then grudgingly accepted a compromised that violates a provision in the Nevada Constitution. She claims to be in favor of reducing the tax burden on working families, but she also proposed a tax on weight and distance for commercial trucking while insisting the tax would not affect the costs to consumers. An economics professor should know that business does not pay taxes without passing the cost along. If a tax is raised on shipping groceries, won’t the price on those goods go up? Most certainly.
Local politics or national, the lies and half truths continue. The real problem is, if someone comes along and actually tells it like it is, their own party will turn on them. I know, it happened to me. More on that later. I’m shopping for body armor.
Out here in Nevada we have a woman who sounds like she should be living in the Deep South. Her accent is so up front she makes Paula Dean of the Food Network sound like a Midwesterner. Dina Titus is running against incumbent Congressman Jon Porter and the TV ads are flying fast and furious.
Porter ran an ad dripping with noir images in black and white. One of the indictments against Titus was that she voted to give herself a 300% raise in her legislative pension. On its face this is true. Titus was a member of the Nevada Legislature that raised the pension from 25 cents to 75 cents. What Porter’s ad doesn’t mention is that the raise was passed with nearly unanimous support from both parties. There are plenty of other bits of baggage he could go after, but why tell the truth when lies are so much more interesting?
Titus responds with the same old lefty talking point that Porter voted in lockstep with Bush. She fails to mention that every single bill the Democrats are complaining about are also bills the majority in Congress passed. The majority happens to be Democrat. In essence, do what I say, don’t do what I do. She also claims she passed a property tax cap. Well…not exactly. She wanted a much higher cap and argued for that and then grudgingly accepted a compromised that violates a provision in the Nevada Constitution. She claims to be in favor of reducing the tax burden on working families, but she also proposed a tax on weight and distance for commercial trucking while insisting the tax would not affect the costs to consumers. An economics professor should know that business does not pay taxes without passing the cost along. If a tax is raised on shipping groceries, won’t the price on those goods go up? Most certainly.
Local politics or national, the lies and half truths continue. The real problem is, if someone comes along and actually tells it like it is, their own party will turn on them. I know, it happened to me. More on that later. I’m shopping for body armor.
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