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If you tell a lie big enough and often enough, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic, and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
- Josef Goebbels
A culture is made- or destroyed- by its articulate voices.
- Ayn Rand
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell
There seems to be one very important aspect of Indecision 2012 that’s barely being discussed, and it will have a huge impact on how the campaign plays out over the next 13+ months. The entire GOP field seems to be incapable of operating in the realm of facts, truth, and reality. Candidates seem to make up their own facts on as-needed basis, and yet how often does the media call them on it? This raises a very simple question: if we can’t trust a candidate to be honest during the campaign, how are we supposed to be able to trust them in the Oval Office? If they make up facts to buttress their own political position, how do we know that they’ll deal honestly with real problems when they’re in the White House?
Answer: We don’t.
I’m not going to say that Republicans hold a monopoly on dishonesty and truthiness, but the reality is that Republicans- both in Congress and on the campaign trail- are prone to playing fast and loose with the truth, particularly during this election cycle. It’s as if Jon Kyl’s “that wasn’t meant to be a factual statement” has become the GOP mantra. Say whatever it takes, whenever you need it seems to be the guiding philosophy. Hey, if you’re reasonably certain no one’s going to call “B.S.” on you, why not? Why not make up your own facts as you need them if you’re not going to be held accountable for spreading lies and disinformation?
I’m not asking for much, really. Just the truth. If you’re going to pontificate on a subject, all I ask is that you know what you’re talking about and that you have your facts straight. Then again, when all eight of the GOP moral midgets are mangulating the truth in the same manner, does it really make any difference?
Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:
If you’re going to claim that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation, you can’t simply ignore the reality that there are no scientific studies available that will back up your claim. Michele Bachmann can stand in front of the camera and act if she truly cares about the well-being of our young women all she wants, but she’s (probably knowingly) spreading disinformation that jeopardizes the health of young women…which certain isn’t a problem to a woman willing to do or say anything to become President.
If you’re going to claim that building the US Embassy in Baghdad cost $1 billion and is larger than the Vatican, understand that people like me are going to call you a liar. Ron Paul grandly used this example during the Teapublican debate in Tampa to bolster his argument that government only screws everything up. Here’s the thing, though; Paul doesn’t know what the Hell he’s talking about. The price tag for construction of the Embassy was $736 million- not cheap, certainly, but nowhere near the grandiose figure Paul tossed off with such certainty. Oh, and the Vatican’s footprint is 110 acres, while the Embassy’s is 104. Again, Paul is a little thing I like to call WRONG.
If you’re going to claim that Ben Bernanke is “the most inflationary Fed Chairman in history,” you have to understand that your claim can and will be fact-checked in a heartbeat…and you’ll be proven wrong. In fact, Newt Gingrich was proven not only wrong, but of the five most recent Fed Chairmans, Bernanke’s record is the LEAST inflationary…and by quite a bit. How someone as ostensibly intelligent as Gingrich can be such an intellectual and moral black hole when it comes to the facts almost defies rational understanding. Then again, Gingrich, like any serious Republican Presidential candidate, knows how to fit the “facts” to his argument.
I could go on, of course, but I think you get my point. The problem is much larger than the two examples above, in that what appears to be happening is a collective unspoken agreement that the truth of a matter is unimportant. As Rachel Maddow points out, what’s happening now is that the entire Republican field will debate a “factual” point that’s provably untrue. It’s as if facts no longer matter. What does seem to matter is that, to a person, they’re able to seriously debate “facts” they have to know have no basis in truth. It’s almost as if Republicans no longer care about getting things right. What seems to be more important than living in the realm of facts and truth is recognizing what you can convince the American Sheeple to believe is the truth. What’s true is no longer paramount…and unfortunately, the American Sheeple have very low standards when it comes to veracity these days.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
