Whew! Finally! Our trials and tribulations have ended, at least for a few months. Even as my fingers swiftly fly over my keyboard in a futile effort to edify the masses, at least the Donley County portion of the masses, the American people are speaking – with a lisp.
I’m not sure who the winners are. I do, however, know who the losers are, namely truth and integrity. Perhaps the biggest loser was the American electorate. One of the fact checking organizations reported that Mitt Romney spewed forth 19 “pants on fire” untruths, whereas President Obama put forth a puny effort of only seven “pants on fire” lies. (“Pants on fire” lies are better known as whoppers.)
Of course, Mitt’s whoppers were much more egregious, but let’s not quibble – a lie is a lie. I will never forget the startling words of Mitt’s pollster, Neil Newhouse, “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” What? Did he really say that?
For sure, the Obama campaign has certainly had its own share of deception and distortion. They lied about Mitt’s positions on abortion and foreign aid. Even so, nothing in it has equaled the efforts of the Romney campaign in this realm. Its flagrant disdain for facts is beyond disappointing.
Yet, We the People don’t seem to recoil against these cynical manipulations of the truth. Regardless of who wins and who loses, the Romney campaign has placed a big and historic bet on the presumption that facts can be ignored, for the most part, without consequences.
This election may go down in history as the moment when truth and lies lost both their honor and stigma, respectively. The Mittster has demonstrated an unrepentant willingness to say anything and everything to win this election. Yet he is running dead even with the president, who’s lies and untruths are not quite so flagrant, but just as destructive to our trust in the democratic system.
What does this say about the American people? What does it say about the value of integrity?
The list of the candidates’ out-and-out lies is too long to list here. Neither candidate wouldn’t acknowledge the truth if it bit him on the butt. They seem to have decided that the only things standing between them and the White House are those irksome little facts. They continue to roll right over them. Perhaps Jack Nicholson was correct when he uttered, “You can’t handle the truth,” in his role in the movie A Few Good Men.
The question becomes: will this outrageous tactic work?
There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that facts and the people who check them don’t carry the same weight that they once did.
The extremist on the far right and far left have created marvelous disinformation machines, which both explicitly and implicitly make the argument that facts are exchangeable and have been co-opted by nefarious operatives on the other side. Both sides have declared war on facts in what they claim is an unscrupulous war on the truth. This is patiently false and untrue, but it works on some.
How is it that so many people are willing to support men who they don’t believe are honest and trustworthy? Voters also don’t really believe that Obama and Romney really care about their problems. Who votes for men who they think don’t care about them?
Knowing what we know about the president and Governor Romney we must ask ourselves this question: are we granting them the liberty to lie? If so, why?
Until We the People rise up as one as say, “enough is enough,” this absurd folly will continue.
Now, I realize that in days gone by, politicians conducted venomous personal attacks on each other. James Madison, in one election, was accused of pimping out Dolly and her sisters for votes. Accusations of miscegenation (which later proved to be true) were directed against Jefferson. Jefferson’s supporters flung accusations of bestiality and other assorted sordid activities at John Adams, at one time or another.
Adams’ supporters responded by slamming Jefferson with, “Jefferson is an atheist, mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.” Unfortunately, such a sacrifice is not unknown to our modern campaigns as we continue to witness the intense desire of political hopefuls (presidential, congressional, and state) who seem willing to sacrifice anything – their families, friends, and even their integrity to get elected. I could go on ad-infinitum.
Now, thanks to the Citizens United ruling by the United States Supreme Court, the candidates’ supporters can spend billions of dollars in good, creative lies and untruths. Wow! Lucky us. Can you image, spending billions of dollars trying to land a job paying a few hundred thousand dollars a year? Is it just me, or do things seem a bit out of balance?
It now falls upon us, We the People, to put a stop to this madness. Then again, we seem to tolerate the demeaning way our politicians treat us rather well. Perhaps we deserve what we get.
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