There was a time, long long ago, when the GOP was considered the moral party. They were less inclined to lie and were considered generally less corrupt than the democrats.
What happened?
I guess everyone tends to credit Reagan, not the first president to lie but the first one who incorporated it into the general day to day narrative. Reagan was never one to let a few facts get in the way of a good story. Fortunately it was more a part of the day to day narrative than the legislative process.
I think we have to credit Gingrich as the more basic ancestor of our present condition. It was he who first brought our congressional campaigns national, founding go pac as the national model even to the point of supplying the narrative. It was he who nationalized the GOP campaign vocabulary and managed to demonize the word liberal It was also the start of the GOP, as a unit, to require solidarity on most issues. The "my way or the highway" school of political thought.
All that seems so mild and petty now. The GOP has advanced from accepting not only the sophisticated political lie into the acceptance everyday gross dishonesty. We now have a president who lies all day everyday. It is neither subtle nor sophisticated, just gross obvious lying. It is not something that can be explained away. One only has has to read his tweets to see his position shift not only from day to day but often from hour to hour.
And yet he maintains his following. How can that be? How can a substantial portion of our people accept this? They not only accept this but, when not denying the obvious, they go to ludicrous extremes trying to explain it. The base of the republican party has become more of a cult than a political party, believing in their own fantasies.
So it seems that for the Trump Republican truth no longer matters. Not in the explanation of their policies nor in their execution. They want what they want and to hell with truth even to the point of lying about legislation when it does not match the preferred description.
Put simply this is simply immoral. Not surprising I suppose when the president is a poster boy for immorality. Unfortunately down this road lies authoritarianism. A Hitler, a Mussolini, a Stalin. When one begins to countenance the big lie for what they say are good reasons, the good reasons quickly fade away with the means of control.
What does one tell their kids when asked why they support such a liar? They will find something although the kid will see through it. They may not say but they will know that you are as bad as the President.
How do you live with that?
What happened?
I guess everyone tends to credit Reagan, not the first president to lie but the first one who incorporated it into the general day to day narrative. Reagan was never one to let a few facts get in the way of a good story. Fortunately it was more a part of the day to day narrative than the legislative process.
I think we have to credit Gingrich as the more basic ancestor of our present condition. It was he who first brought our congressional campaigns national, founding go pac as the national model even to the point of supplying the narrative. It was he who nationalized the GOP campaign vocabulary and managed to demonize the word liberal It was also the start of the GOP, as a unit, to require solidarity on most issues. The "my way or the highway" school of political thought.
All that seems so mild and petty now. The GOP has advanced from accepting not only the sophisticated political lie into the acceptance everyday gross dishonesty. We now have a president who lies all day everyday. It is neither subtle nor sophisticated, just gross obvious lying. It is not something that can be explained away. One only has has to read his tweets to see his position shift not only from day to day but often from hour to hour.
And yet he maintains his following. How can that be? How can a substantial portion of our people accept this? They not only accept this but, when not denying the obvious, they go to ludicrous extremes trying to explain it. The base of the republican party has become more of a cult than a political party, believing in their own fantasies.
So it seems that for the Trump Republican truth no longer matters. Not in the explanation of their policies nor in their execution. They want what they want and to hell with truth even to the point of lying about legislation when it does not match the preferred description.
Put simply this is simply immoral. Not surprising I suppose when the president is a poster boy for immorality. Unfortunately down this road lies authoritarianism. A Hitler, a Mussolini, a Stalin. When one begins to countenance the big lie for what they say are good reasons, the good reasons quickly fade away with the means of control.
What does one tell their kids when asked why they support such a liar? They will find something although the kid will see through it. They may not say but they will know that you are as bad as the President.
How do you live with that?
