A Lie by Any Other Name Stinks Just as Much

Why don’t we trust our politicians?

For the answer, look no further than a recent column by Larry Elder in Investor’s Business Daily (www.investors.com).

He began with a quote from a politician. The pol railed against illegal immigrants. They disrespect the rule of law, he said. “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented (and) unchecked …” The politician was Barack Obama as a U.S. senator in 2005.

Another politician bragged about securing our borders. And about hiring more border guards. He boasted about deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before. And about barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. His name was Bill Clinton. He made these remarks in his 1995 State of the Union address. He went on and on about illegal immigrants in that address.

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama declared we needed to make employers verify the legality of their workers. We needed to punish those who don’t. “We need to start by giving agencies charged with border security new technology, new facilities and more people to stop, process and deport illegal immigrants.”

Sen. Harry Reid blasted a system that rewarded illegals and their offspring with full access to social services.

Sen. Obama was upset, saying, “Right now, we’ve got millions of illegal immigrants who live and work here without knowing their identity or background.”

Bill Clinton declared, “It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.” This was also in his State of the Union address. Democrats leapt to their feet for the TV cameras and applauded wildly. That was then. 

In the 2018 State of the Union address, given by President Trump, they sat on their hands when the president made similar remarks.

These days, the politicians who once called for stronger borders now praise sanctuary cities. They once called for barriers and walls and more border patrol officers. Now they fight Trump’s wall. They say it will have no effect. They declare we should welcome anyone who makes it into this country.

Since the time they made their remarks, millions more immigrants have arrived illegally. The pols saw problems back then. Today, the problems they described have mushroomed. But today they see no problems. Go figure.

Wait. There is no need to go figure. What we see here is why we don’t trust politicians. We don’t trust them because they lie. They say one thing. And then, a few years later, they say the opposite.

They do more than “say things.” They get melodramatic about it. They try to stir us up. They use the theatrical production known as the State of the Union address, no less. Or the hallowed chambers of Congress.

We don’t trust them because they say one thing, but do another. For years politicians said they would control our borders. “Comprehensive immigration reform.” That is what they promised. They lied. This is what they said. What they did was nothing.

For years Republicans promised they would deep-six Obamacare. They lied. They said one thing, they did another.

It seems clear that politicians stand on principles. The principle that they will say whatever will win votes. The principle that what they promised on the campaign trail should never get in the way of how they vote in Congress.

Can you come up with any other reason for their perfidy? Their duplicity? Those are big words. The simple word is “lies.”

Maybe they now figure if they oppose immigration controls they will win minority votes. Maybe they have been born again. Maybe they just oppose anything and everything Trump favors.

It does not matter, really. What matters is that they lie. And that, sadly, is the truth.

From Tom…as in Morgan.                          

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. Find him on Facebook or contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com