By Jim Dickson
With apologies to Benjamin Disraeli, Mark Twain or whoever first said,” There are three kinds of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics,” my new version is “There are three kinds of liars – lairs, damn liars, and news weasels.”
The first kind of liar are the nice people from somewhere in Asia or Africa who call you on the phone and are very concerned that the warranty on your car is about to expire, or want to help you with your Medicare, or a deposed Nigerian Prince who wants to share $6,000,000 with you if you will only send him $1,000 of your money to help him get the $6,000,000 out of his country.
Most of us are too smart to fall for any of it, but I guess that some do because the phone keeps ringing.
Damn liars are the politicians who get elected telling lies. They will tell you whatever it takes to get elected, then they will tell you that it’s not their fault that nothing they told you ever came to pass. All they need is more tax money to make it happen.
They are so good at it, that in spite of the fact that we know they lied, we continue to re-elect them year after year. They come in all political stripes, and about the only difference between them is who they blame for their failure. I am pretty sure that there is a case for term limits here, but that is a subject for another time.
Then there are the news weasels or as they are more commonly known Presidential spokespersons. They routinely stand up in front of the White House Press Corps, and spin the lies of the day.
I think it was Joseph Goebbels who said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.” This current bunch sure didn’t invent the news weasel concept, but they have brought it up to a new level.
It is an amazing thing to see the dance that takes place between the news weasel and the press. The weasel knows that they are lying, the press corps knows that they are lying, and anyone who tunes in on TV to watch, knows that they are lying. If, heaven forbid, someone asks the weasel a hard question they can’t answer with a lie, it becomes part of an ongoing investigation, a national security issue, or it’s quickly referred to their colleagues in some other governmental agency who everyone knows never speaks to the press.
The same dance goes on day after day, with everyone playing their part. Nothing of consequence is accomplished, and the public stays in the dark. Mission accomplished.
It has not always been this way, and it doesn’t have to continue this way. It comes down from the top down. If the President and his staff have no regard for the truth, then none of the people below them do either, then you end up with a boggle of weasels spreading the spin of the day.
Believe it or not, there are people in government who value truth, and are honorable people. We have some of them currently in office, and some who are or, will be running for office in the next election.
There are true leaders out there who believe that only a moral society can successfully rule itself, and they are right. It’s not too late to change the dynamic. Please find out who they are, and vote for them.
We can turn things around, but we have to educate ourselves and vote for people who value truth and honor. Otherwise the weasels win, and America will continue to decline.
Born, raised and educated in the Southwest, Jim Dickson served in the U.S. Navy Reserve in Vietnam before a 35-year business career. Retired to St. Helena Island, Dickson and his wife are fiscally conservative, socially moderate and active in Republican politics, though they may not always agree with Republicans. Having lived around the country and traveled around the world, Dickson believes that the United States truly is the land of opportunity.
