A follow-up question should be, “Why do we excuse some and crucify other politicians who lie?”  The most recent political liar seems to be the newly elected Republican George Santos, who embellished (lied) about numerous things.  However, nobody seems to care that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and countless Democrats have lied.  Why is it that if a Republican lies, that person must be hung on a cross and banned from humanity, but if a Democrat lies, it is justifiable?  I don’t like being lied to by anybody, regardless of political ideology or party.

I could argue and probably infuriate many that Joe Biden inspired George Santos to play loose with the truth.  I could.  No, I will argue that point and argue that politicians and political fabrications have been around for as long as we have had elections.  I was recently apprised of a story that transpired about seven decades ago where a Congressman embellished numerous things.  He was a wounded WWII veteran but lied about his wounds. He claimed to have engaged in secret missions, Nazi torture, medals, and even his educational background before being elected to the House of Representatives as a Congressman from Utah. 

Santos lied, but I don’t believe he claimed to have been an over-the-road driver of semi-trucks.  I do not believe he claimed his house was burned with his wife in it.  He never claimed to have been arrested in South Africa trying to get to see Nelson Mandela.  He never claimed that his son almost lost his life in Iraq. He never plagiarized speeches by JFK, RFK, and Hubert Humphrey.  He never claimed to have a higher IQ than a voter he was angry with.  He never claimed to have graduated with three degrees, went to the University of Delaware on a full academic scholarship, and finished in the top half of his class.  He never claimed to have played football at the University of Delaware.  He never claimed to have confronted the notorious gang leader Corn Pop. He never expropriated the life story of British politician Neil Kinnock.  But someone holding office today did.  Can you guess who?

We had Eric Holder as Attorney General repeatedly advancing lies in cahoots with the sitting president Barack Obama.  Does anyone remember Fast and Furious, the Obama-Holder gun-running scheme that cost American lives and empowered the Drug Cartels of Mexico? 

How about Loretta Lynch and the lies she told while working in the IRS doing the bidding of the Democrats using her office to target conservatives and Christians?  How about Bill Clinton? “I didn’t have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”  How many Democrats were calling for his resignation when that lie was exposed for the entire world to see? 

Lyndon Johnson was a serial liar and did so with such ease that one had to wonder if he was that diabolical or pathological liar.  Johnson was once asked why he told people that his grandfather died at the Alamo when he knew it was false.  He said, “My grandfather wasn’t killed at the Alamo; he was killed at San Jacinto.  Most people don’t know about that battle, so I moved him to the Alamo.”  He did not die at either; he died in bed at home.  But then, like with Biden, it was just being folksy to achieve an objective good for America.  Wow!  Some can lie, and it is just being folksy or just Joe being Joe, but others lie and are worse than the devil himself.  Lying is not acceptable, no matter who it is.

Hillary Clinton lied about emails and many other things, including Benghazi and the willing sacrifice of the lives of Americans.  Later she would famously and disgustingly say, “What difference does that now make?”  Elizabeth Warren’s claim to be Native American and Richard Blumenthal’s embellishment regarding serving in Vietnam. 

I like the quote attributed to Hanna Arendt, Truth, and Politics – “Freedom of opinion is a farce unless factual information is guaranteed and the facts themselves are not in dispute. In other words, factual truth informs political thought just as ration truth informs philosophical speculations.”

There was a time when political aspirants viewed credibility as a valued asset.  Today we have so much political hyperbole and a verifiable disconnect from reality, and the voters, lies are commonplace and seem to be the norm rather than the exception.  One of the reasons for the dissent into the unethical and untruthful is the polarization of society.  People are more interested in their feelings than in their facts. 

Forecasts by politicians often turn out badly, and the predictions are more dismal than anticipated.  Biden claimed that inflation was “transitory,” but we have discovered that his definition of “transitory” and reality are vastly different.  Most voters took the term to mean “gone quickly,” but that is far from reality.  Yogi Berra once said that predicting is difficult, especially when it’s about the future. 

Political leaders never want to be the bearer of bad news; they want to be the ones deemed as the savior and envision people placing Palm branches in their path and lauding them as the benevolent benefactor we cannot do without.  Even with the continued downturn in approval ratings for Joe Biden, the Democrats still hold serve in Congress. 

Biden’s Build Back Better was touted as “costing zero dollars” because it was “paid for.”  Most people with an IQ above room temperature realize that paying for something does not make it free and without cost.  When paid for is to hand the bill to future generations, which is not good.  We are borrowing from our great great great grandchildren to cover the insane profligate spending of today. 

We have been and are being lied to by politicians on virtually every front. Some of the lies are inciting vitriolic attacks, and others are experiencing crickets and a ho-hum attitude.  America, George Santos is not the problem.  Most of the members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and the many agencies of the federal government are guilty of embellishment (lying).  Unless we are willing to go after every one of them, stop pretending that you are incensed by the lies of select individuals. 

Remember the words, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”  My question is, “Do people even care?”  Selective ethics and morality will only lead us to destruction.  It is time that we return to moral sanity and ethical legitimacy and hold ourselves and politicians to the high standards of God’s Word and morality.  It is time that we stop pretending to be offended by some things while ignoring others of the same ilk.  Either we want ethical legitimacy, moral sanity, and accountability from all politicians, or we have no right to ask for any.  

Please wake up, America, and let’s return to the foundational principles of our Republic and take back oversight of the federal government.  We are the people who are being governed, and that is only by our consent.

God bless you, and God bless America!