THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 35, February 26, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ACCELERATING THE SPEED OF LIES
By Alan Caruba
AMERICAN POLITICS & THE ART OF TELLING LIES: U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AS A POLITICIAN & SERIAL LIAR
-- COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, & ISLAMISM AS THE GREATEST LIES OF THE MODERN ERA -- LEFTWING LIBERALISM,
MEDICARE "REFORM" (OBAMACARE), ENVIRONMENTALISM, HUMAN-INDUCED CATASTROPHIC GLOBAL WARMING, &
CLIMATE-CHANGE ECONOMIC REGULATORY POLICY AS THE CURRENT BIG LIES OF U.S. DOMESTIC POLITICS -- THE NEED FOR
AMERICANS TO EMBRACE & DEFEND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, OUR SHIELD AGAINST DESPOTISM & THE LIES THAT
ADVANCE IT
FULL STORY:
“In the big lie, there is always a certain force of credibility;
because the broad masses of a nation are always more
easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional
nature than consciously or voluntarily; and, thus, in the
primitive simplicity of their minds, they more readily fall
victims to the big lie than the small lie…”
Who wrote that? The answer is Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, published in his 1925 autobiography. During World
War Two, the U.S. government’s Office of Strategic Services, which later would evolve into the Central Intelligence
Agency, assessed Hitler’s methods:
“His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off;
never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may
be some good in your enemy; never leave room for
alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one
enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes
wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one;
and, if you repeat it frequently enough, people would,
sooner or later, believe it.”
I have been reading David Kupelian’s new book, How Evil Works, and thinking a lot lately about lies, lying, and
liars. At the heart of great frauds is the lie, and it seems to me that Americans have lately been subjected to a surfeit of
lies that began with the 2008 election campaign, the election campaign in which a virtually unknown, first term Illinois
U.S. Senator announced he was running for President.
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes” is attributed to Mark Twain, and the
truth of that is more evident than ever, because technology has increased the speed with which lies travel. It has,
fortunately, also given speed to those who debunk the lies, and the result is a dizzying avalanche of conflicting claims.
Being ignorant of the intent of our nation’s Founding Fathers, of the limitations on the central government found in the
U.S. Constitution, of the deliberate separation of powers in our government’s executive, judicial and legislative branches,
and of history in general puts people at a disadvantage to recognize a threat to the nation and their freedom.
Edgar Watson Howe (1853-1937), a newspaper and magazine editor in the second half of the Nineteenth Century and the
early years of the Twentieth Century, said, “Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.”
I think he was reflecting on the influence of the broadcast and print media of his day, but it is no less true today. Most
certainly, the Presidency is an enormous platform for the person holding the office to advance public policy by telling
lies.
A President, however, who is perceived to be a serial liar, soon begins to lose credibility and popularity. President
Barack Obama’s credibility and popularity has fallen at an astonishing rate in just over a year in office.
It is worth noting, too, that the credibility of newspapers as a source of objective reporting has been in decline as the
Internet has grown, offering an enormous number of news and opinion websites from which anyone can determine the
truth or falsehood of public debate.
The English publisher and writer, Ernest Benn (1875-1954) said, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
We are seeing this play out in the effort to “reform” Medicare by President Obama and the Democratic Party. Even
Republicans know that Medicare is in need of some changes to improve the program. Tort reform and the ability to
purchase health insurance across state lines are but two improvements that make perfectly good sense to most people.
However, the reform being proffered by the White House is nothing more than a Socialist expansion of a government
that is already too large and too unwieldy to serve the interests of Americans. It would, as is often pointed out, destroy
the best health system in the world and put one sixth of the nation’s economy under the control of government.
In the process of putting forth Medicare “reform,” President Obama has told so many lies that it is only with great
difficulty that one can keep track of them.
Little wonder that the great historian, Edward Gibbon, wrote that “History is indeed little more than the register of the
crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.”
No greater modern example of this is found in the global warming fraud. Since the 1980s, the deliberate distorting of
“science” has been the basis for the Big Lie that the Earth’s overall temperature is rising rapidly and that mankind is
responsible for it through the use of coal, oil, and natural gas as fuels for industry use and the production of electrical
power.
The greatest lies of the modern era, however, have been Communism and its baby sister, Socialism. The deaths of
millions are attributed to Communism as practiced in the former Soviet Union and in the early years of the Peoples
Republic of China. Nazism [National Socialism], a form of Socialism, led to the deaths of millions in World War Two.
Nations that have embraced Socialism are experiencing serious financial crisises these days. These political and
economic systems have proven to be failures wherever they have been introduced and imposed.
The greatest domestic challenge to Americans today is the combination of Socialism, a system that has been slowly
introduced into the governance of the nation since the 1930s, and the recent election of a radical “messiah” promising
“hope and change.”
Beyond and within our shores, the other Big Lie, militant Islam, threatens our freedoms. And it, too, must be resisted
and defeated.
Today, however, Americans need to embrace the U.S. Constitution as never before. It is our shield against despotism
and the lies that advance it.
© Alan Caruba, 2010
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
The News & Entertainment Media: Political & Ideological Bias
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, business and science writer, he is
the Founder of the National Anxiety Center.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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