using other words to admit you're 'lying'...

11/12/2017

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by E.L. Christianson Jr.

Let's start at the beginning: Writing for the majority of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts argued, “For politicians, lying is a religious observance akin to attending a church or a synagogue, except that they do it seven days a week.”

Therefore, the court concluded: “any attempt to restrict or punish lying by politicians is an unconstitutional infringement on a religion they have practiced for decades.” 

Ok!  So, now we know. Sometimes it is hard to hide the truth.  Lies only go so far.  Facts are facts and, in 'the light of day' reality tends to shine through.  The hard truth about the proposed tax cuts for the wealthy has been known since the day the proposal was put forth.  But, congressional representatives and senators have lied about the effects of the proposed tax bill and the 'people' have, apparently, swallowed the lies.  A little bit of simple arithmetic reveals what happens under the guise of 'improving the tax code'.

for politicians

It appears that the American people are beginning to wake up.  What was obvious in the first place is now being seen to be obvious.  In the shadow of the truth, and not wanting to be known only as liars (especially as recent election results have shown that the public is starting to wake up), those pushing the new tax bill are trying to save themselves.  Now, they wish to explain that there was some small misunderstanding and that they were not heard correctly when they lied.

​Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell likes the word 'Misspoke' instead of the word 'lie' to describe his statements and to explain the confusion.  He says that he "misspoke" when he said that "nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase."  We can all easily see that 'I misspoke' sounds a whole lot better than 'I lied'.

Judd Legum of Think Progress told the truth when explaining, ​"'I misspoke' is the thing you say when you can't get away with lying anymore." 

Let's not be fooled, this was not the result of his being pricked by a guilty conscious, this was in the face of tremendously embarrassing analysis released by virtually everyone who studied the new tax bill, pointing out the truth. The truth is that the proposals disproportionately benefit high earners and corporations and raise taxes on millions of middle class families.  The analysis make the facts clear.

All things considered, Lying simply becomes unviable as an option. ​ In spite of repeated false promises by Republican lawmakers and in the face of objective analysis, McConnell conceded the truth, "I misspoke on that," McConnell told Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg‏.

if you lie to the government, it is a felony - but if your senator or representative in congress lies to you, it is protected speech... it is their Religious 'right' to lie to you

Well, hallelujah, we can finally credit McConnell with telling the truth.

But, as is habit, McConnell goes farther with his explanation and focuses on a lie.  He says, talking about the middle-class,  "You can't guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase".

​It almost sounds reasonable... "You can't guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase"... using the words 'absolutely' and 'guarantee' seems rational, seems intelligent, seems equitable, seems like a whole lot of positive things, but in truth it is a lie.  It is a lie underneath the deception.

It is a lie because he and his cohorts are the ones who are writing the law.  In that law, they have gone to extremes to 'guarantee' that the rich will get massive benefits.  They write what they want to write.  If it was their intention, they could just as easily 'guarantee' benefits for the middle-class - but, the problem is that they have (using that word) 'absolutely' no intention of benefiting the middle-class.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Republican Representative Darrell Issa said he can’t vote for the current version of the GOP tax bill. ... he doesn’t think the individual tax cuts will [stimulate the economy], and they'll hit some Americans unevenly. “They say the average person is going to get a reduction, and yet many, many people in my district are going to see a tax increase because we have wanted to give tax reductions over and above those that stimulate the economy,” said Issa, who is considered one of the most vulnerable members in next year's election. “I am concerned about making sure we don’t give away so much that isn’t economically necessary and then at the same time tell certain people that they have to pay tax increases.” Issa pointed to the elimination of the deduction on state and local taxes as an example, saying that people shouldn’t be taxed twice on the same money. One in three Californians use the deduction, the loss of which has been a sticking point for members in other high-tax states. “I don’t think paying your state income tax involuntarily is a loophole,” Issa said. “Very few people would say that state income tax is a loophole.”

Maybe it is a phase of the moon, who knows.  The truth is coming out.  Read the article by Kaili Joy Gray.  While many Republican lawmakers are at least pretending their tax scheme is supposed to benefit middle-class voters — it’s not — Rep. Chris Collins is taking a different approach.

A week ago, the New York Republican shockingly admitted he does not care that the plan to make the middle class pay for handouts to billionaires and corporations is deeply unpopular with voters.  Asked to respond to the bill’s extreme unpopularity with voters, he literally responded, “Who cares?”  When it comes to his donors, however, that’s another matter.

“My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again,'” Collins said.  In other words, Collins is pushing for something his voters don’t want so his rich donors will keep giving him money to stay in office.

It is obvious that the Republican plot to benefit the rich has nothing to do with the majority of Americans they represent. But it’s quite a stunning admission to make out loud.

And then there's Lindsey Graham. Suddenly, he is a 'truth teller'.  He now admits that the Tax Plan is all about "keeping Financial Contributions of donors flowing"   Republicans are literally out here warning each other that their big donors will stop writing checks if they don't do their bidding."  Read the article by Jake Johnson.

Republicans in congress are trying to ram through massive tax cuts for the rich to satisfy wealthy donors.  If the party's tax push fails, "the financial contributions will stop."

David Sirota, reporter with the International Business Times, responded by noting that it is both "laudably honest for Graham to admit this" and "a repulsive glimpse of how politicans see so many public policies as private financial transactions between them and their donors."​

And, finally there are the American people.  We will have a chance to speak the truth.  We must forget whatever it was that caused us to elect these people in the first place.  We are looking the truth in the face.  The millions of us who are the essence of this nation do not count to those making the laws.  They are now on record as having said exactly that.  They are there in congress working for the wealthy elite and for nobody else.

This is reminiscent of George H. W. Bush and his famous broken promise - "Read my lips: no new taxes".  Yes, we are reading your lips and we can see that you are lying, all of you - Republicans and Democrats.  And, we know the truth, that the lying of politicians is 'protected by the constitution'.  But, we are not all that dumb and we recognize that lying is not protected at the voting booth.

We have had enough of these lying and deceiving politicians.  Let's act in the only manner open to us as citizens... let's exercise our power to vote.  Our only hope is to remove these people at the very next election, and that's the truth !!!

Let's stop listening to the lies of our political leaders.
Let's start voting for the truth !!!