Lies by people of responsibility, lies everywhere, repeated again and again in public with relish without shame or thought of the consequences.
A candidate who lost an election is determined not to concede for almost two years, claiming voter fraud without proof. She has lost all her lawsuits but continues insisting that she won the election and asked, and is still asking the court to install her as governor of Arizona or order a new election.
A Democrat said this: “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” he continued, adding, “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.” The paper says nothing about the Chinese being less receptive to the virus. It did not say anything about targeting the virus.
In response to the critics, he twitted that the United States is “developing ethnically targeted bioweapons”. That was what he said on the video, repeating the Russian propaganda that the United States has collected D.N.A. in Ukraine to make bioweapons to target Russians.
What is all this about, spreading false claims and repeating them without any facts to support any of them, even when the facts clearly contradict them?
One way of explaining it is that nowadays, it is the easiest way to make a name for the proclaimer and who knows, to gain a governorship or even a presidency. Much easier than showing competency.
David Weiss, a Republican prosecutor, was appointed by former president Donald Trump to serve as the Delaware U.S. Attorney, who Mr. Trump said shared his vision for making America safe again. Mr. Weiss stated many times, including in letters to Congress he had absolute authority to probe the Hunter Biden affair, no restriction, and no interference from the Department of Justice.
No matter. A Republican congressman went on CNN to declare that David Weiss had sent three letters to Congress in which “he (Weiss) corrected himself each and every time” about his level of authority in the Hunter Biden investigation. He did not, and there was no follow-up letter where Weiss corrected himself.
Lies have become an accepted mode of behavior by mostly the Republicans who resort to them abandonedly and wildly. For those who pursue personal gain, it could be argued that it is not against the law. For the Republicans, their excuse is even loftier to fight to save the party from a political quagmire.
In the time we live in, lies don’t matter, no consequences. We are back to the primal time when everything goes with no distinction between good and bad behaviors, which must be scorned. All the efforts to build a civilized society seem for naught and senseless. Is it acceptable to destroy our hard-earned Democratic institutions and a civilized nation so that they can take power? What happens to the Christian sacred belief in Truth, Goodness, and Beauty? “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” sounds odd.
- Edward Hoover once wrote that the “purpose of counterintelligence action is to disrupt the Black Panther Party and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge … the Bureau feels … that disruption can be accomplished without facts to back it up.” The Republicans take this wisdom to heart. Their fierceness and rigidity put them at odd with the Christian tenets they vow to follow and protect. In their fight against the Democrats, they are willing to break the rules and norms of a civilized Christian society, ready to discard decency. They have tried to disrupt not just the Democratic Party, but seem inclined to shatter the Democratic Institutions, the country and even the Christian civilization.
If we insist on lying with a straight face and shamelessly in dealing with our fellow Americans, and our fellow human beings, little Jimmy and his generation will learn the lessons and create a new world.
And this will be the world they will live in:
-Teacher: Jimmy, everyone has turned in their homework. Where is yours?
-Jimmy: I have already given it to you.
-Teacher: No, you have not.
-Jimmy: Yes, I have.
-Teacher: Don’t lie to me.
-Jimmy: You have to talk to my father. Dad!
-Jimmy’s father: If my son says he has turned in the paper, his paper has been turned in.
-Teacher: He lies. There is no proof that he has turned it in.
-Father: It doesn’t matter if he lies or not. He said he has turned it in. I say he has turned it in. You must accept it, or you will find yourself in a fight. Jimmy will not give up. I will not give up.
-Jimmy: Yeah, yeah. I will get a congressman to say that you have written three letters saying that you corrected yourself time and again that you did receive my homework. I will get a senator to release an FBI memo containing UNVERIFIED allegations that you received my homework, so the public can see for themselves. I will sue you. I will sue the school. I will sue the Board of Education. I will sue the state. I will see you all in court. I will pursue the suing for years until I get a judge to declare that I have turned in my homework.
JOHN P. LE PHONG