By BEN R. WILLIAMS
It surprises me to say it, but I miss the days when one of the worst things you had to deal with from politicians was spin.
Remember spin? Bill O’Reilly used to claim his show was “The No-Spin Zone,” making it the most inaccurately named media property since “The NeverEnding Story.”
For an example of spin, let’s say Rep. Bob Politics has proposed a 1% sales tax to fund free lunches for schoolchildren. A pundit opposed to Rep. Politics might ask the question, “Why does Rep. Bob Politics want to punish his constituents with yet another new tax?” Meanwhile, a pundit in favor of the proposal might ask, “Bob, why does your opponent want to take food out of the mouths of hungry schoolchildren, whom I’ve been told are our future?”
Both of these takes are misrepresentations of the Representative’s proposal. However — and this is important — both takes have their basis in agreed-upon facts. Both acknowledge that the Rep. has proposed a tax increase designed to feed children. The divergence is with how those facts are interpreted.
It seems almost quaint compared to where we are now.
For an example, take our current government shutdown.
On Oct. 1, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, “The Democrats shut down the government because President Trump and the Republicans will not force American taxpayers to pay for free health care for illegal aliens.”
Vice President J.D. Vance then added that, “The Chuck Schumer, AOC wing of the Democratic Party shut down the government because they said to us, ‘We will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens.”
This has been the Republican messaging on the shutdown since before the shutdown even began.
Also, it is completely false.
Where does this falsehood come from? When Congress can’t agree on a budget bill, it can pass a “continuing resolution,” which keeps the government from shutting down while the budget is being discussed and ultimately agreed upon. The Democrats proposed a continuing resolution on Sept. 17, and on page 57, it called for a repeal of a provision in Trump’s 2025 budget bill that would restrict Medicaid eligibility for non-citizens. However, the specific provision the Democrats want to repeal pertains specifically to noncitizens who are in the U.S. legally, not those in the country illegally. So when the Republicans claim the Democrats want to provide billions in healthcare funding for “illegal aliens,” it is, by definition, an outright lie.
However, this lie does an excellent job of distracting Trump’s supporters from the actual reason for the shutdown, which is that Democrats want to extend tax credits to make health insurance premiums more affordable, which is something that would benefit most U.S. citizens, Trump supporters included.
As an aside, even if it were true that the Democrats were trying to secure healthcare for undocumented immigrants, I personally wouldn’t have a problem with it. I subscribe to the radical theory that you shouldn’t make someone bleed out in a hospital parking lot just because they were born on the other side of an invisible line. Also, there’s Leviticus 19:33-34, which states that, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
I apologize if that radical statement offends anyone.
Anyway, lies are far more pernicious than spin. As an example, if someone said that I once set fire to a building while a former Vice-Presidential candidate was inside of it, I could argue against that spin. I could explain that the fire was completely accidental, I put it out without incident, and to my knowledge, Sen. Tim Kaine never even found about it (it’s a long story).
However, if someone accused me of being the Zodiac Killer, my only rebuttal would be, “That’s a lie!” And you know who else would respond that way? The Zodiac Killer.
Jonathan Swift once wrote that, “It often happens, that if a lie be believed only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no Farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect.”
In other words, a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. After a great lie has been told, what percentage of people will hear the correction? And increasingly, what percentage will even believe it, despite clear evidence?
What does it look like when half of the nation abandons any allegiance to truth and becomes immersed in a world of lies and fantasy?
After quoting the Bible and Jonathan Swift, I will close with a quote from a ‘70s dish soap commercial: “You’re soaking in it.”
