The Biggest Lie

When the intellectually and rationally bankrupt are out of ideas they default to immature and unashamed name calling.  Those that merely disagree with the black president become racist, and any critical analogy can be construed to have racist intent.  For example,  Romney's use of his sons' childhood attempts to cover a lie was deemed by one pundit to be a sly effort to call the black president 'boy'.  How ridiculous.

To make every disagreement about race demeans the real civil rights struggle, which involved public beatings, fire hoses and police dogs.  Racism is now based more on the thickness of one's skin than its color.

Accusations of racism has become a method of quelling free speech, and when it no longer works,  Romney is accused of being a liar.  Unable to accept the defeat of the unprepared amateur by a competent professional, the Obama sycophants use the term 'liar' with the same carelessness and meaninglessness previously reserved for 'racist'. 

They complain that none of his plans are specific enough, but his plans will never be specific enough to satisfy his critics. It is more than ironic and hypocritical to hear this nonsense from a party that has not delivered a budget in over three years, even when they controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. 

It is not a lie that one can cut rates on the wealthy while increasing their  tax revenues.  This is the same economic truth that Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton understood and practiced.  But the obsession to find conflicting points and details of an economic plan to justify bombastic insults obscures the larger falsehoods.

I do not mean the smaller lies such as your ability to keep your health insurance provider when you can't; the claim that taxes would not be raised on the middle class when they will be; or that unemployment will not go over 8% when it did.

The biggest lie is not getting facts and promises wrong; it is the total denial of the truth.

It is a truth that a bureaucrat who makes decisions on your behalf is totally detached from both the benefit and the loss of that decision and will thus serve you poorly.

It is a truth that paying citizens with cash and benefits for extended periods of time will reduce their incentive to work and will keep unemployment high.

It is a truth that increasing the friction costs for employers to hire workers will reduce the incentives to hire and will keep unemployment high.

It is a truth that the uncertainty and volatility of taxes and fiscal policy and the mere threat of higher taxes reduces the incentive to invest and create jobs.  Capital will sit in low yielding treasuries and money market accounts, or will leave for countries friendlier to investment capital.

It is a truth that real wealth, human potential and creativity, cannot be controlled.  It can be allowed to flourish or it can be extinguished, but it cannot be otherwise micromanaged and controlled.

It is a truth that the best intentions when detached from economic reality can yield disastrous results.

Juvenile name calling may satisfy the true believers. Turning, twisting, and ignoring details to extract insults for public consumption may suffice for political strategy when there is no substance to employ.  But denying the truths and principles that have led to a prosperous economy is a far more egregious act and has caused far greater harm to the country.

Henry Oliner blogs at www.rebelyid.com

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