by E.L. Christianson Jr.

For most, it seems to begin with simple little 'white' lies, like the visit from Santa Claus.  It is not true.  We all know it is not true, but we perpetuate the tale through the generations.  It is similar with the 'easter bunny'.  Nobody believes but we pretend to believe and we participate in the falsehoods.

In the schools, history, as taught, is a series of lies.  Virtually no part of what is taught as history is in fact historical.  Hysterical would be closer to the truth, but the truth is of little interest.  The closer to the present time history comes, the farther from the truth history becomes.  In some ways, the truth is catching up.  It is not uncommon today for people to recognize that if Columbus sailed to a land filled with people, he couldn't have 'discovered' that land.

A little late for the millions who died smoking cigarettes, but the the lies of 'big tobacco' are finally being recognized for what they actually were and are... big lies.

Maybe the passage of time allows one to look back at past events with a bit more accuracy than those facing those events face to face.

The political system in this country only functions as a process of lies.  Every person running for president presents information to the public as some form of a distortion of the truth.  Some of the lies are so huge that there is legitimate concern for the sanity of the candidate.  Do they not know or recognize the truth? Do they actually believe that voters will believe a lie that is so removed from the truth, so totally disconnected from reality?  Are they that dumb or are we?

The public has been persuaded to accept the lie that war is good.   Everyone seems to believe the lie that war is good for the economy.  

There is even 'the good war' as we like to refer to world war 2... meaning that it was a good war as if there was some moral justification for eliminating many millions of human beings from the earth... approximately 3 percent of the world's population died in the 'good war'.

Most Americans still believe in the lie of a 'surprise' attack on Pearl Harbor, but many actually do know the truth.  

We love to use the word 'war' even when pronouncing ourselves to be 'peace-loving.   We fought the 'war on poverty' and apparently lost.   We are fighting the 'war on drugs' and losing badly.  And of course, there's the 'war against terror' which is on-going and defeating us regardless of how it is being measured.

The entire concept of a 'war on terror' is itself a lie.  And then we lie about each and every 'enemy' in an effort to rally the country against that monster over there who must be defeated before they are here on our doorstep.

Syria was a lie.  Ukraine was a lie.  Grenada was a lie.  Vietnam was a lie.  Iran was a lie.  Iraq was a lie.  Libya was a lie.   Many of those listed above are on-going lies... Ukraine was/is a lie would be more accurate, for example.

Afghanistan was/is a lie.  Prior to 2001, the Taliban was willing to turn Osama bin Laden over to a third country if he was promised a fair trial and no death penalty, and if some evidence of his guilt of crimes were offered.  In 2001, the Taliban warned the United States that bin Laden was planning an attack on American soil.  In July 2001 the United States was known to have plans to take military action against the Taliban by mid-October.

When the United States attacked Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, the Taliban again offered to negotiate for the handing over of bin Laden. When President George W. Bush refused, the Taliban dropped its demand for evidence of guilt and offered simply to turn bin Laden over to a third country.  Bush rejected this offer and continued bombing.  At a March 13, 2002, press conference, Bush said of bin Laden "I truly am not that concerned about him."   When President Barack Obama announced, in May 2011, that he had killed bin Laden, the war didn't even slow down.

And there are all of these needless deaths of innocent people caused by the endless series of lies which is the backbone of the endless series of wars.

We love to claim ourselves as a 'Christian' nation, but in truth, there couldn't be very many people in this country who would qualify as a 'Christian'.  Jesus taught love and compassion.  Americans are greedy and completely lacking in compassion as evidenced, among other things, by our homelessness and incarceration rates.  We love to define ourselves as 'Christian' even when proof of the opposite dominates both domestic and foreign policy.  

To call ourselves Christians becomes a sad joke.  ​Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
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Our politicians use the food stamp program, for one example, not to feed people, but to persuade others not to feed people, claiming that it creates a culture of government dependency.

And, now with "illegals" being big on the campaign trail, we have Christian Ted Cruz saying that if he wins the election, he "will end welfare benefits for those here illegally.”   Of course we all know there are no welfare benefits for people here illegally.   But, it is a lie that sounds good to those other pseudo​-Christians.

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As the lies have come to dominate our lives, as lies are now the normal, it becomes difficult to see the truth.  When the news media is consulted, what report can be believed?  When a public figure speaks, who can believe what is being said?  When one studies the history books, what can be accepted as the truth?

When one knows, even before the politician speaks, that the words that are forthcoming will be lies, how can one have faith in anything that is being said?  It is very difficult to maintain a democracy in a nation so completely inundated with lies & liars... and that's the truth !!!