Posted on 12/14/2014 6:31:59 AM PST by Kaslin
Americans now have something in common with people in the old Soviet Union—our government and the media lie to us. The Soviets used to say about their two newspapers Pravda (which means “truth”) and Izvestiya (which means “news”), that “there is no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestiya.” The Soviet people knew that those two official organs of the Communist Party were lying to them, so they spent more time reading between the lines than reading the lines.
That’s what happens when you get used to having your government lie to you. You expect it. You assume that most things it says are untrue and based on the falsehoods you have to make guesses about what is really happening.
Lying is routine for evil governments. Once a regime starts down the path of dishonesty, it never turns back. Once it gets away with lying about one thing, it will lie about others. Its virtue has been lost forever. And when the citizens discover that their government has been lying to them, it becomes like an unfaithful spouse caught in the bed of paramour—you will never trust it again. Sadly, that is where we are now.
Benghazi, the IRS scandal, “fast and furious,” Obamacare—how many more lies?
Take, for example, Uncle Sam’s economic statistics. Does anyone really believe that only 5.8% of working age people are unemployed? Of course, leftists do. But for the rest of us, we know the government doctors figures, emphasizes the unimportant, and deemphasizes the useful to make the economy look better than it really is—just like the Soviets use to do. We should laugh when the mainstream media gush about how wonderful the low unemployment numbers are, except it is not funny, because the most revealing unemployment statistic, the labor participation rate, is at an all-time low, and it suggests that, after eliminating from the data people who have serious health problems or who have chosen to enter retirement early, the percentage of unemployed would be somewhere between 15 and 30 percent of the working age population. We would have soup lines three miles long in every city, if people were not receiving “food stamp”cards in the mail. Is that a robust economy?
Likewise, the government’s numbers relating to illegal aliens represent what the powerful elite want us to believe rather than a description of the real world. In order to make the masses of illegal aliens seem palatable, the numbers are greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, Americans are not as savvy to government mendacity as the Soviet citizenry were. When President Obama’s people said that his blanket amnesty would apply to about “five million,” almost nobody questioned that figure. But how on earth can it be only five million? The President said in his speech that his amnesty would apply to immigrants who “have been in America for more than five years” or who “have children who are American citizens or legal residents.” “More than five years” would mean anyone who came before 2009.
The questions is, How many illegal aliens were in the US in 2009, five years ago?
Pat Buchanan, in his excellent book, The Death of the West, cites a Northwestern University estimate of eleven million illegal aliens in the US in 2000. The official US census figure for that year put the number at nine million. Even when factoring in those who were deported, if the number of illegals in the country was nine million or eleven million in the year 2000, how could it be five million in 2009, when a million or more enter the country every year? Probably, California alone had more than five million illegal aliens in 2009. If we add one million each year for nine years onto the nine million in the year 2000, that would give us a figure of eighteen million, not allowing for deportations. However, government estimates have repeatedly minimalized the problem and exagerated the number of deportations. The Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform quotes US Border Patrol Local 2544 as saying in 2005 “there are currently 15 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country.” That was in 2005—nine years ago. Isn’t it likely, therefore, that 25 million illegal aliens were in the US before 2009, the last year they could enter the country to achieve five years’ residency and be covered by Obama’s amnesty, not five million?
Five million or twenty-five million illegal aliens—what’s the difference? The difference is twenty million people—almost the entire population of Australia, or two-thirds of Canada’s population.
The thing is, the government will never tell us the actual number of illegal aliens in the country because the elites need to convince us that it is a small number in order to advance their goal—i.e., amnesty. It is never a good thing when the goal of the government is at odds with the goals of the citizenry.
The current regime lies glibly and often, but the opposition is not faultless either; some big-name Republicans told whoppers to their constituents in order to win re-election.
It is one thing, however, when the government and mainstream media lie to us. It is another, though, when we accept what the government tells us without questioning it.
Welcome to the party George.
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Russia and The U.S. share a tv get me t style. We live in an oligarchy. It is more clear now after this weekends BS in DC. If you are a corporation or person with gobs of money you can double your donations. The rest of us just suck it up and pay.
It is time to water the tree of Liberty.
From, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your Doctor, period.” To, “The attack was caused by a video.” To only God knows what else. Americans are so used to lies, that they are numb from them. However, a good part of the election Apocalypse for Democrats was in large part from voters finally catching on. But, many of the winners apparently lied to the voters too.
Our government lies and the media support them.
Winston Smith is earning his little blue check.
Mr. Mano, they are not the mainstream media, they are the propaganda media. Words have meaning calling the media mainstream is to confer a legitimacy upon them they do not deserve. Same thing with illegal aliens. They are not immigrants. Also the government and the propaganda media has been lying to us for decades, decades, and decades. Glad you have finally noticed Mr. Mano.
"Lying is routine for evil governments. Once a regime starts down the path of dishonesty, it never turns back."
Many on the conservative side believe we will reverse the dishonesty of our government by winning elections. We won't. We have many laboratory examples of this right here in the US. Look at state, local and city governments. Take Chicago, a corrupt cesspool, why have the wheels of elections not reformed this corrupt city? Unfortunately I know of no example where dishonest government has been reversed through elections. Maybe there are some but I personally know of no example where this has taken place.
This IMO is the reason to forget about national elections and concentrate on an article V convention of the states. Article V convention was the founders answer to corrupt central government. It's time to use it while we still can.
A good article but one glaring inaccuracy: “Unfortunately, Americans are not as savvy to government mendacity as the Soviet citizenry were.”
Actually, Americans probably are about as savvy. The way that’s expressed though is different. In the soviet union, everyone voted...or else. In the US, in spite of endless ads, extended hours, exhortations to civic duty, etc. only about 36% bothered to show in 2014 That was the lowest participation rate for a midterm since WWII.
I think it would be more appropo if Sally Sweetlies were at least semi-ugly.
We live in a society where the elites are at best amoral and worst immoral. While some members of the elites may feign to believe in God, they are not religious and they do not hold themselves to any religious standards of behavior much less try to live virtuous lives.
The very definition of morality has become muddied and political. This week we were treated to the spectacle of politicians, academics, and social leaders condemning the heavy handed interrogation of terrorist prisoners as illegal and immoral. Those same leaders will not condemn the arbitrary killing of individuals, in nations not at war with us, by drone strikes. In fact the current president claims the legal authority to kill foreigners and US citizens around the world without any form of due process. Not a whimper of concern or protest by the same actors crying for George Bush and Dick Cheney to be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity.
Likewise we see in Ferguson the casting aside of the rule of law in favor of a lynch mob. Progressive leaders and thinkers are quick to throw away the principles of “equal justice under law” and “innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” for an arbitrary system of justice they can administer from afar and use to dole out political favors.
At the University of Virginia, unproven accusations of criminal conduct by unidentified assailants against an anonymous victim resulted in the immediate and arbitrary suspension (punishment) of all members of social fraternities. This occurred without any investigation of the facts or any opportunity for the accused to respond. The court of public opinion demanded action so the heavy hand of the state administered the justice of the lynch mob, punishing over a thousand students in an effort to bring justice to the seven they could not identify and which likely do not exist. Even today, with the accuser and the charges discredited, the fraternities remain suspended and the freedom of the thousand remains restricted. Here the political ends justified the means and justify the the continued restriction of liberty.
Our politics and institutions are corrupt because the soul of the nation is corrupt. We elect men and women who have no moral compass or standards to office and then complain about the results. The majority of our citizens do not practice a religion (i.e. read the scriptures and attend a house of worship). Our society no longer upholds Christian values and ethics as standards to which all should live by. Without shared values and a culturally ingrained view of morality, a society cannot survive.
As long as our souls are corrupt there will be no improvement. It isn’t enough to vote in an election. If the people we chose to lead us cannot discern from right and wrong, they will take the path of least resistance. Sodom and Gomorrah were not cleansed at the ballot box.
He's right. But there are so many Census, BLS, and other government tables. Even the Employment Situation tables have the truth you just have to look a little. Even the MSM employees know about the labor force participation rate.
I have the time to look for those other tables. The "progressives" like to compare Reagan and Obama administrations vis-a-vis the economy. The tables help prove that whatever Obama claimed the unemployment rate was earlier this year is a lie even without considering labor force participation rate.
Source:
Choose Total nonfarm, Seasonally adjusted then
- scroll down and click Retrieve Data button
- Change Output Options from date to 1979,
- Click Go button.
(abridged) Total nonfarm seasonally adjusted employed Establishment Data 1979 - 2014
Series Id: CES0000000001
Seasonally Adjusted
Super Sector: Total nonfarm
Industry: Total nonfarm
NAICS Code: -
Data Type: ALL EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 88810 | 89054 | 89480 | 89418 | 89791 | 90109 | 90215 | 90297 | 90325 | 90482 | 90576 | 90673 | |
| 1980 | 90802 | 90882 | 90994 | 90850 | 90419 | 90099 | 89837 | 90097 | 90210 | 90491 | 90748 | 90943 | |
| 1981 | 91037 | 91105 | 91210 | 91283 | 91293 | 91490 | 91602 | 91566 | 91479 | 91380 | 91171 | 90893 | |
| 1982 | 90567 | 90562 | 90432 | 90152 | 90107 | 89864 | 89522 | 89364 | 89183 | 88906 | 88783 | 88769 | |
| 1983 | 88993 | 88918 | 89090 | 89366 | 89643 | 90022 | 90440 | 90132 | 91247 | 91518 | 91871 | 92227 | |
| 1984 | 92673 | 93154 | 93429 | 93792 | 94100 | 94479 | 94792 | 95034 | 95344 | 95630 | 95979 | 96107 | |
| 1985 | 96373 | 96497 | 96843 | 97039 | 97313 | 97459 | 97649 | 97842 | 98045 | 98233 | 98442 | 98609 | |
| 1986 | 98734 | 98841 | 98935 | 99122 | 99249 | 99155 | 99473 | 99587 | 99934 | 100120 | 100306 | 100511 | |
| 1987 | 100683 | 100915 | 101164 | 101502 | 101728 | 101900 | 102247 | 102418 | 102646 | 103138 | 103370 | 103664 | |
| . . . | |||||||||||||
| 2007 | 137448 | 137536 | 137724 | 137802 | 137946 | 138017 | 137984 | 137968 | 138053 | 138135 | 138253 | 138350 | |
| 2008 | 138365 | 138279 | 138199 | 137985 | 137803 | 137631 | 137421 | 137162 | 136710 | 136236 | 135471 | 134774 | |
| 2009 | 133976 | 133275 | 132449 | 131765 | 131411 | 130944 | 130617 | 130401 | 130174 | 129976 | 129970 | 129687 | |
| 2010 | 129705 | 129655 | 129811 | 130062 | 130578 | 130456 | 130395 | 130353 | 130296 | 130537 | 130674 | 130745 | |
| 2011 | 130815 | 130983 | 131195 | 131517 | 131619 | 131836 | 131942 | 132064 | 132285 | 132468 | 132632 | 132828 | |
| 2012 | 133188 | 133414 | 133657 | 133753 | 133863 | 133951 | 134111 | 134261 | 134422 | 134647 | 134850 | 135064 | |
| 2013 | 135261 | 135541 | 135682 | 135885 | 136084 | 136285 | 136434 | 136636 | 136800 | 137037 | 137311 | 137395 | |
| 2014 | 137539 | 137761 | 137964 | 138268 | 138497 | 138764 | 139007 | 139210 | 139481 | 139724(P) | 140045(P) | ||
| 2015 | ???? |
Re: 2009 and 2010. While those Dem pukes were gallivanting around Washington with their victory and opportunity to use health care to fundamentally change America into a Marxist, centrally controlled state 8,660,000 Americans lost their jobs. Starting with election years
Reagan years, Jan. of each year 1980 - 1987
Using column A in a spread sheet for each administration
Of course I could have done that last step and been done with it but
That's what Senator Schumer was referring to. .. and what of the domestic millions added to the population and the tens of millions more that Obama and the Republican Chamber of Commerce are inviting to "Come on in!"?
The reason I wanted to try to step through this carefully as I can be is that I cannot believe that such things happen in America. That the 1960s Marxist-Alinsky campus radical, psycho spoiled brats really did get control.. it really happened just like I feared that it would.
I agree that the problem won’t be fixed by electing different people but I am amazed that anyone believes a convention will accomplish what they themselves say cannot be accomplished by an election.
The founders were the brightest political minds in history and this was their solution for the circumstance we now find ouseves in. IMO we should trust they knew what they were talking about.
It is my opinion based on seventy years of life and much study that the problems we have stem from the fact that we elect people who refuse to abide by the existing constitution and then we all too often reelect them because all too many Americans know little or nothing about the constitution or simply do not want to live by it. In short we have about the sort of government that the MAJORITY deserves. Therefore I see absolutely no reason to believe that having a convention to propose more amendments which either will be ignored by the people we elect or as has already happened more than once the amendments will be passed but later turn out to have been a terrible mistake can have anything but a negative result. If you wish to pass an amendment requiring a thorough background check on candidates and a test requiring them to prove that they are not idiots I might get behind that.
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