Dishonesty
Like most Americans, I detest dishonesty. I don’t like the fact that used car salesmen offer you the idea that the used car they are trying to sell you is in perfect condition. Many people don’t seem to be able to fathom the idea that someone sold that car because it wasn’t perfect and it would most likely cost to much to get it into “very good” condition.
The fact of the matter is that an honest Used Car salesman won’t be able to make a living in the business for very long. He needs a few gullible people to lay down their money every week so he can support his wife and kids. The truth is that some people need to buy used cars and these guys need to sell them. Unfortunately dishonesty often makes the deal happen. And, being aware that you are going to be ripped off in some way doesn’t make you feel any better about the situation.
Some people deal with the fact that they are most likely to be ripped off by a used car salesman by ignoring the situation. They go into the show room and deal with the guy as if they are being honest and everything is above board. After the purchase when the ignorant new owner begins to discover the problems with the car they often blame “bad luck” as the culprit behind the failing automobile. The salesman gets off and the ignorant person continues to believe in the honesty of humanity.
Other people deal with the fact that they are going to be ripped off by assuming that they are going to be ripped off and trying the best to discover the secrets of the car they want to buy. Some cars are worse than others and they convince themselves that they can learn what they can about a car and only choose the best car from all the bad cars available. Of course this is a wise approach hoping that you can discover the inevitable flaws in the car you end up purchasing. Knowing the problems in advance is certainly desired, but these problems are not given up freely by the salesman. This approach requires work, sleuthing, and deduction and there is always the possibility that you will miss that very expensive flaw. This adversarial approach to buying a used car is never enjoyed by either party, and it is often dreaded before it even begins.
The result of both of these approaches often results in the same thing - a car with some problems and an owner that learns to live with them. So, if one method requires more work than the other and the results are most often the same, why would one choose the more difficult style? The fact is that most people often find themselves somewhere in between the two extremes. Perhaps a person looks at the problems that they know how to discover and they also ignore the problems that they do not know how to discover very easily. The old stereotype of the guy kicking the tires of the car comes to mind. Perhaps one can determine the sturdiness of a car from kicking the tires, but is sturdiness of a modern car a common problem? Of course the wear and tear of the misalignment of a trans-axle may not be determined quite as easily and it may be a bit more important.
Dishonesty is motivated by the needs of the dishonest person. This isn’t a new idea; it is merely an unpleasant fact of life. The used car salesman wants to sell imperfect cars to customers that expect perfection. By avoiding a discussing of the unpleasant facts often results in neither party facing the issue. Calling the salesman on specific issues that may be perfect results in both parties feeling that they did the right thing, offering to discuss the problems of the car. But, the salesman is not required to talk about the problems that were not expressly brought up. After all, his goal is to slip one by so he can make his money and feed his wife and kids.
Of course, used car salesmen are not the only people who are dishonest. In most discussions the next group on the list are the politicians. Normally people do not distinguish between the politics of the politicians. This is because no matter what their party affiliation the job of a politician is to sell his policy. Dishonesty without being caught in a lie is the clever line a politician must follow. This is because a politician needs a majority to get his policy implemented. The politician may actually have a majority of people that agree with him, but the message isn’t always communicated 100%. This means that persuading a portion of people that wouldn’t normally agree with him if they understood what he meant could make up for the people who would agree with him if they understood the policy. Obviously this is the numbers game that we are all familiar with.
Dishonesty in politics centers around telling the people what they want to hear and avoiding what they don’t want to hear. Exaggerating what people desire by making those things sound even more desirable that reality. And, Exaggerating the evils of those things in the alternative policy choice. Politicians tell us that these things are not lies, because each statement is true on it’s own. But, they don’t tell you the parts that they left out.
George W Bush tells us that he is killing terrorists in Iraq. He doesn’t tell you that he threw a party for the terrorists and invited them from all of the countries in the Middle East when he started the Iraq War. He tells us that he won’t raise taxes, but he fails to tell us that he is borrowing the money that he needs for his agenda so that we will have to pay twice as much for it in the future.
The only defense against this dishonesty is to point out the dishonesty. Of course, supporters of the policy will do make every effort to defend the dishonesty in an effort to confuse the public. Someone will point out that at some point we will need to cut our government spending or raise taxes to pay for George W Bush’s spending spree. And, the defenders of the policy will call those who disagree with the spending traitors, or anti-patriotic or scum or something even less appealing. Those who are confused think to themselves, “They didn’t raise my taxes, and I’m patriotic. That sounds good to me.” It often takes years of this deception and argument for the truth to come out. And, often quite a bit of damage is done to the public interest.
In our Democracy we have a tradition of debate and argument in an effort to get to the truth as quickly as possible. We not only tolerate free speech, we encourage it. So, when Nancy Pelosi questioned the dishonesty of George W Bush we should applaud her effort in the American tradition. She told us how George W Bush rushed the additional troops to Iraq so that the Congress would find itself unable to cut funding for troops that are already in harms way. And, Tony Snow accused the Speaker of the House of “playing politics.”
The truth of this may never be known. It is unlikely that George W Bush would ever admit that he sent troops to Iraq without Congress discussing the issue, because he knows that doing that would make him look bad. He might have believed that sending these troops was the best solution, but in doing so he took away the discussion. In the current political climate he knows that no one would support an escalation of a failed policy. Unfortunately he also doesn’t realize that it is failed. He believes that staying the course, killing more people is the best solution. He believed that hanging Saddam Hussein was justice and not revenge. And he believes in the good Fairy of the Iraq War. But the point isn’t what he believes, instead the point is what is good for America.
Well, as we all know, we are not going to get anything that is good for America from this president. We need to wait two years to find out if we will finally get a Commander in Chief that will think about America above his personal interests. And, the problem is that in two years we are not guaranteed to have anyone better in place, just someone different.
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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit
Reflection
