By John Vernon.
Political dishonesty is all the rage among incumbent politicians and candidates seeking office today. Perhaps we should just call it dishonesty since the lines distinguishing politicians, special interest groups, and the media are difficult to discern. In this fast-paced age of media sound bytes, it is tough for Americans to separate fact from fiction based upon political rhetoric and biased media reporting. It is no wonder, then, that approval ratings for members of Congress and the President are so low.
Not only does the American public not know whom to trust, many believe that there is a deliberate effort by this Administration to undermine life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A prime example of this is the deliberate and failed U.S. foreign policy strategy, which catapulted multiple Middle Eastern countries into chaos, thereby creating fertile breeding grounds for terrorism.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on our homeland, our Executive branch has played partisan politics with its decisions (or its lack thereof) to deal with the growing threat of terrorism. Whether it be the decision to invade Iraq, the Congressional decision to authorize the invasion, or the failure to call atrocities by ISIS “Islamic Extremism,” the actions by politicians and government officials, regardless of party affiliation, all point to being less than candid with the American people.
When one examines the handling of the troop withdrawal from Iraq, or the actions in Libya, or the embarrassing military retreat from Yemen, the deception is glaringly apparent. If these matters were not so serious, it would be highly amusing to watch the politicians distance themselves from these events as they went south. They disavowed all knowledge of those events, saying that they had been “misunderstood.” They dispatched their surrogates to feed the American people false talking points. The media was all too happy to help spin the web of deception in order to kill the story, thereby putting Congress into a state of paralysis.
Congress, like the Executive branch, has failed to effectively serve the American people for quite some time. Everywhere you look in the world today, some crisis looms. At home, manufactured crises which create dissention among the people is the political dish du jour.
The American people know that they are not better off than they were 20-25 years ago. Faced with a (likely) nuclear Iran, Islamic terrorists whose jihad is to purge the world of all non-Islamic religions, a nuclear North Korea, an expeditionary Russia, and a 19 trillion-dollar debt, the American people deserve straight and honest words from its leaders, not smoke-and-mirrors and double talk.
The manner in which the recent events in Ferguson, Long Island, and Baltimore were portrayed and handled by political leaders was nothing short of calamitous. In each instance, rushes to judgment and nightly trials through the media fueled the divide, feeding the narrative that young men across the country were being “hunted down.” In the case of Ferguson, science and finding of fact ultimately triumphed over emotion and claims of racism. However, the Department of Justice’s determination did not dampen or soften the false narrative of “hands up, don’t shoot.” Based on the current political climate, an erroneous belief persists in some communities: that the administration of justice for perceived wrongs cannot be addressed by the rule of law.
Rather, those anarchists insist that justice must be administered by mob violence. It is counterintuitive to seek justice through the destruction of property and the looting of businesses—such actions drain the lifeblood and future hopes from the very communities purported to need further government assistance! The Mayor of Baltimore’s recent statement is a perfect example of irresponsible political rhetoric: “We gave those who wished to destroy space as well.”
As the American people continue to stretch their eroding paychecks, barely making ends meet from week to week, former U.S. President Bill Clinton now earns $500,000 for giving a single speech and a foundation bearing his name is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in questionable foreign monies. His defense? “I have to pay my bills.” The American public should be so fortunate. Perhaps we should feel sorry for the former First Couple, since they were “dead broke” when they left the White House. However, their joint and separate dishonesty doesn’t end there—it goes deeper into the rabbit hole.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deliberately misled the American people and broke the law by using personal computer servers and multiple email addresses, then deleted at least thirty thousand emails deemed “personal” in order to avoid the discovery of nefarious actions and deals with shady characters. Conclusion? If Saul Alinsky was alive today, he would be grinning from ear to ear wondering how this couple pulled off the white collar heist of the century. But don’t worry, there is plenty more slime to go around.
Since Barrack Obama has been President, he has been the recipient of multiple Pinocchio Awards for misleading the American people, and that’s phrasing it gently. Clearly being dishonest with the American people, Mr. Obama promised that we could keep our doctors and that each American family would save $2,500 annually in healthcare premium costs. Remember that? He’s the same guy who professed that some rogue video caused the murder of four brave Americans in the attack on our annex in Benghazi, Libya.
It was also Mr. Obama who stated that Sergeant Bo Bergdahl had served with honor and distinction, thereby justifying the trade of five high-value Taliban terrorists for his release. Most recently, Mr. Obama emphasized the issue of climate change as a challenge to the national security of the United States, and he insisted that this issue must be addressed now. Can you believe it? Climate change! Not ISIS. Not a nuclear Iran. Not an aggressive and expansive Russia. Not Ebola, not illegals, and not lone wolf terrorists. Climate change is the number one threat to national security!
Mr. Obama is right about one thing, the climate is changing, and I don’t mean the weather. The American people are gradually becoming more wary of the charlatans who engage in race baiting, who promise hope and change, and who fail to unequivocally state that we are fighting Islamic extremists. Just a temporary setback, you say? Rest assured, the political landscape is being redefined and redrawn.
The 2016 elections will be a pivotal point in time for the people of the United States. Gone will be the broken promises of “trust me” and “the deck is stacked” against the middle class by political elitists. I predict that the American people will not wait for the Department of Justice and FBI to crack down on these political charlatans. American voters will administer the people’s justice at the ballot box. We, the people, are fed up with the liberal left charges of police brutality, racism, and discrimination. We, the people, will be the ones who save our republic and return her to her rightful place in the halls of exceptionalism.
