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Note: this section is in work with much to be added as time permits.
Yes, I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but I have always found the duplicity of politicians and government functionaries very disturbing. My friends point out that deceit is a common tool used by leaders in all fields whether it be government, church, or industry. While that is true, there is one big difference: Government has a monopoly over force and the big guns to make sure it stays that way. That is a very important distinction. I don't care if industry lies to me when it tries to entice me into using tobacco -- I can ignore them. I don't care if the preacher claims that I need to send more money to "Jesus", via the preacher's post office box. I will wait until "Jesus" contacts me personally. But when the government announces that they have to take away my property and most of my Constitutionally guaranteed rights for the security of the country and I find out later it was a big lie, I get very upset! This page, then, is devoted to the documentation of political lies, propaganda, memes, news-control, dis-information, and other such manipulations of public opinion. Due to the enormous size of this subject -- it would require a book -- I can only outline the issues here. However, I will provide copious links to other sites with supporting information. Enjoy.
Lobbyists, PACs, Interest Groups, Activists, Large contributors, etc. are the real forces behind government. There is actually little influence by average voters/citizens. The OpenSecrets organization is a valuable source of information on Lobbyists -- probably the best online. A few years ago, a law was passed to require lobbyist to register with Congress. Of course, that doesn't mean that you and I -- lowly citizens -- can have access to it (call both Houses and hear what they have to say about you looking at their lists). But somehow, a private company, Columbia Books, Inc., does get access and publishes a book, with the cynical title Washington Representatives, that lists all the reported lobbyists. The cost is over $100. If you should have a chance to scan the Washington Representatives book you may be surprised to see a lot of familiar names. Names like: Former Representative Bill Alexander, Former Secretary of State James Baker, Former Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Former Secretary of Agriculture John Block, and Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr., Son of Hale Boggs just to name a few of the biggies in the A's and B's. It is surprising to some people that with the very generous retirement plan given to Congressmen, that many of them just consider the job in Congress as a stepping stone to the much more lucrative job of lobbying. According to journalist Jim Hightower, "More than 25-percent of those members of Congress who left office in 1994 have had a nice, cushy landing in Washington lobbying firms". I suspect the percentage is much higher than that now. "60 Minutes" did a segment on the lobbying industry. A transcript is online at Patton Boggs LLP. An interesting aspect of the lobbying/revolving door business is that many of the legislators and regulators who at least appeared to be controlling various industries that we have been lead to believe need controlling, switched to the other side when they swung around the door and went to work for the companies they used to control! Very interesting -- but then I guess their expertise would be most valuable.
Over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam war along with far greater deaths of the Vietnamese, hundreds of thousands of wounded and enormous cost to both the U.S. and Vietnam. There is strong evidence that the war was based in large part on political ambition and financial selfishness. The true history is now becoming available.
(The hysteria was mostly created by the press -- the government just took advantage of it to spend huge piles of money)
The press -- reporters, jounalists, editors, etc. -- are still humans and, like the rest of us, are unavoidably biased in any pronouncements they make. So, we are not talking anything necessarily sinister here and we accept that this not an absolute thing but instead is a matter of degree (see my essays on vagueness and why we are all moderates). But just because "all is relative" does not mean that they have not gone "too far" one way or the other. In the case at hand, the media, the trend toward fabrication and distortion of the facts has definitely gone too far. The basis for this problem, like most other problems we have in our society, is economics. While we all enjoy many benefits from the operation of the free market, the low cost provision of everything from toilet paper to personal computers, some things -- like the news media -- seem to have a some serious repercussions. In particular, we have to accept that a freely operating media could, and possibly has, become a tool of the state and politicians to manipulate public opinion in ways that aren't necessarily the best for the public. Below are listed several sources that discuss this problem in some detail.
Introduction to Political Duplicity and Related Articles
Government Operations
Government Financing and the Debt
Major Political Deceptions
Various Wars and "Police Actions"
The Infamous War on Drugs
Smoking
"Political" Science
Global Warming
The Mythical Y2K Bug
Reports from the Press
(The video we saw on the nightly news of the train being "accidentally" bombed was shown at three times normal speed!)
(What happened to those mass graves containing hundreds of thousands of young men from Kosovo that was reported by NATO during the bombing phase?)
(The Washington Post reported that Lee was misled by federal investigators who told him he’d failed a Department of Energy lie-detector test.)
But then the Press also Lies!
Links to Sites with more on Political Deceit