Lying and its consequences (or lack thereof)

By Mark Faust
HCP columnist

In the previous few weeks, two tales caught my consideration. Both tales had been minor blips on the nationwide information scene, however in my view, these tales are indicative of twenty first century America.

The first story concerned bumblebees. Recently, the California third District Court of Appeals dominated that bumblebees at the moment are thought-about to be fish.

The different story got here from congressional testimony. Aimee Arrambide, the manager director of the abortion rights nonprofit Avow Texas, was requested if she believed that males might turn out to be pregnant. Her reply was “sure.”

Both conclusions, that bumblebees are fish and males can turn out to be pregnant, are flat-out, simple lies.

If bumblebees are put underwater, they’ll die. They wouldn’t have gills, scales or any of the mandatory anatomical/organic traits that may permit them to reside as fish do.

In the historical past of mankind, no man has ever turn out to be pregnant. From now till the top of time, no man will naturally turn out to be pregnant. It is biologically unimaginable. Men merely wouldn’t have the anatomical traits or organic skill to have kids.

In the grand scheme of issues, these tales didn’t garner a lot consideration within the nationwide information cycle. The proven fact that these tales didn’t acquire a lot consideration is the extra vital story. As I stated earlier than, each the conclusions are false. But telling lies has turn out to be a norm in American politics right this moment – and society doesn’t appear to thoughts.

For most of American historical past, the general public held politicians accountable when they didn’t inform the reality. Over the previous 50 years, Richard Nixon disgraced himself (and the workplace of the president) when he claimed that “he was not a criminal.”

The most well-known promise of George H.W. Bush, “Read my lips, no new taxes,” turned out to be a lie. In each these conditions, the general public reacted accordingly. Had he not resigned, Nixon would have been impeached and faraway from workplace, and Bush was voted out of workplace within the subsequent election.

There was a time in American historical past when mendacity was unacceptable to the general public. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case in twenty first century America.

Although mendacity politicians have all the time been part of the democratic course of, it has turn out to be accepted, tolerated and even celebrated within the final 25 years. The acceptance of mendacity started round 1998 when Bill Clinton claimed that “he didn’t have sexual relations with that girl.” He pointed his finger at America and was adamant that he was harmless.

When proof was produced that proved he lied, it grew to become a private matter “that was no person’s enterprise,” and that the nation wanted to maneuver on to extra vital points inside the nation.

Once Clinton was allowed to lie with minimal consequence, it grew to become extra prevalent.

In the current previous, we have now been promised “shovel-ready jobs” and “we might hold our physician.”

We had been informed that the Benghazi assaults had been spontaneous reactions to protests, regardless that these within the White House knew that it was a deliberate assault. Hillary Clinton informed us over and over that she turned over all her emails. With an nameless cellphone name to his workplace as his solely proof, Harry Reid accused Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes through the 2012 Presidential marketing campaign.

Once once more, I perceive that every one politicians lie. I additionally perceive that some will say that I cherry-picked the lies within the earlier paragraph to swimsuit my very own narrative. But the lies that I discussed ought to have had consequences. Even when you imagine that Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs had been his private drawback and had nothing to do together with his skill to be president, the president of the United States lied underneath oath.

The Obama Administration wasted a whole lot of billions of {dollars} on jobs that weren’t shovel prepared and utterly altered the medical insurance coverage system underneath false pretenses.

Americans died in Benghazi and the Obama/Clinton administration made up a narrative about why they died. Hillary Clinton put American lives at risk by utilizing an unsecured e mail handle (one that everybody knew she was utilizing) for labeled data, tried to cowl up the lies by destroying the onerous drives, and then nonetheless had the audacity to lie about your complete scenario.

The most infuriated lie (in my thoughts) is Harry Reid’s declare about Romney’s taxes. When Reid was requested concerning the unsubstantiated declare years later, he smugly bragged that it labored since Romney was not elected. He knew what he was doing and had no regret for his lies.

And it’s not simply the lies themselves which are the difficulty, it’s the acceptance and use of the lies that’s dividing America. “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” was not true, but it has been used in opposition to the police.

In entrance of a congressional committee, former FBI Director James Comey admitted that Hillary Clinton lied about her e mail server, but he decided that she didn’t do it deliberately, so it was not against the law.

Everyone from the Clinton marketing campaign to the FBI to Christopher Steele himself knew that the Trump/Russia Collusion Dossier was pure fiction. Yet, it was utilized by the FBI to accumulate search warrants on the Trump marketing campaign and cost harmless folks with crimes. In every of those conditions, mendacity was used to realize some kind of political consequence.

The American public deserves higher. If we can not agree that bumblebees will not be fish and that males can not have kids, how will we ever agree on different, extra subjective points?

The mendacity must cease, and the those that purposefully misinform advance their very own agenda must be held accountable. Otherwise, the divide in America will proceed to develop and the nation could not be capable to stand up to it.

https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/Opinions/Opinion/Article/Lying-and-its-consequences-or-lack-thereof-/4/22/81603

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