I've been thinking about lying a lot lately. Not lying, like laying around, but lying, like when a guy tells his wife that he didn't even notice that girl walk by with the short-short shorts and cut-off shirt. But that's a necessary lie, one that is intended to make everyone feel better about the situation. And I'm just saying, I really didn't notice her, or the color of the pink shirt she was wearing.
But lying is becoming the norm in politics right now, so much that we're becoming numb to it. And most of this is caused by the guy who is supposedly the leader of our country. But a leader does just that, he leads, and if we want to be a moral country, then this leadership should demonstrate morality. Instead we have a guy who can't tell the truth about his crowd size, his financial worth, his fealty to his wife ... or Putin, the size of his hands, his...
Our country is built on holding our leaders accountable. One of the ways we do this is with a free press. Which we have, but this same press is under continued assault from this same leader. If he doesn't like what they say, he shouts ... er, tweets, "fake news." No matter that the news is almost always later proven correct. And they have a new name for his own lies, 'alternate facts.' Um, yeah, I'm sure I could get the concept of 'alternate facts' by my wife.The first thing a dictator does is destroy any opposition, especially a free press.
The worse part is that his fanatic followers believe him, they believe everything he says. They believe him when he says the guy that he put in charge of the EPA is going to clean up our country's air and water, even as he systematically dismantles all of the regulations that keep us safe and sound. Even worse worse, he put someone in charge of banking who wants to destroy the regulations that went up after the last recession to keep our money safe, he put someone in charge of schools who wants to destroy public schools, he put someone in charge of ... well, every department. Meanwhile, his toady attorney is selling access to the President and selling us out to foreign interests and massive business interests.
And his faithful followers still somehow believe he's draining the swamp.
Here's what former Sec of State Rex Tillerson recently said, almost assuredly referring to his former boss, " "If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom."
I get that this isn't a funny column, but these aren't laughing matters. We need a return to decency, to respecting a press that does a pretty damn good job of keeping our politicians accountable.
Meanwhile, the guy lies. Over and over again. He can't stop himself, even when his lies enable judges to overturn policies he tries to put into play.
Maybe when this guy is voted out or impeached, we can find funny again.
Norm
But lying is becoming the norm in politics right now, so much that we're becoming numb to it. And most of this is caused by the guy who is supposedly the leader of our country. But a leader does just that, he leads, and if we want to be a moral country, then this leadership should demonstrate morality. Instead we have a guy who can't tell the truth about his crowd size, his financial worth, his fealty to his wife ... or Putin, the size of his hands, his...Our country is built on holding our leaders accountable. One of the ways we do this is with a free press. Which we have, but this same press is under continued assault from this same leader. If he doesn't like what they say, he shouts ... er, tweets, "fake news." No matter that the news is almost always later proven correct. And they have a new name for his own lies, 'alternate facts.' Um, yeah, I'm sure I could get the concept of 'alternate facts' by my wife.The first thing a dictator does is destroy any opposition, especially a free press.
The worse part is that his fanatic followers believe him, they believe everything he says. They believe him when he says the guy that he put in charge of the EPA is going to clean up our country's air and water, even as he systematically dismantles all of the regulations that keep us safe and sound. Even worse worse, he put someone in charge of banking who wants to destroy the regulations that went up after the last recession to keep our money safe, he put someone in charge of schools who wants to destroy public schools, he put someone in charge of ... well, every department. Meanwhile, his toady attorney is selling access to the President and selling us out to foreign interests and massive business interests.
And his faithful followers still somehow believe he's draining the swamp.
Here's what former Sec of State Rex Tillerson recently said, almost assuredly referring to his former boss, " "If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom."
I get that this isn't a funny column, but these aren't laughing matters. We need a return to decency, to respecting a press that does a pretty damn good job of keeping our politicians accountable.
Meanwhile, the guy lies. Over and over again. He can't stop himself, even when his lies enable judges to overturn policies he tries to put into play.
Maybe when this guy is voted out or impeached, we can find funny again.
Norm
