Valley Voices: Lies, damn lies and politics

Breath deep. Do you smell that? Not the scent of newly blossomed flowers, but the faint aroma of manure mixed with a hint of brimstone. That’s right; it’s campaign season.

This is a time of reasoned oratory and debate. It is an opportunity for a spirited exchange between candidates with opposing viewpoints, and a time for an informed electorate to weigh the pros and cons of various political offerings.

At least that’s how it works in the land of unicorns and fairy dust. Here in the good old USA it’s just campaign season so wind up the spin doctors and let the truth unravel.

It kind of stands to reason that for a self-governing country to survive it musst have an informed electorate. That information comes from newspapers, radio, television, and generally paying attention. Unfortunately, most of us are so busy surviving that we don’t take enough time to be well informed on all the pertinent issues. But fear not. Political campaigns are here to rescue us from ignorance.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the ads paid for by deep-pocketed, out-of-state Political Action Committees that try to hang the troubles at the Veterans Administration around U.S. Senator Mark Begich’s neck. The truth is that Begich tried to insulate VA funding from the budget battles in Washington, D.C., but the bill was filibustered by his colleagues on the other side of the isle. And I’m sure we’ve seen Begich’s ads warning us that the Koch brothers and their out of state money are trying to unseat him. In reality, Begich has a pretty impressive war chest of his own.

The point here is that campaigns are information machines. Not necessary accurate information, but information none-the-less. Candidates try to present themselves and their arguments in as attractive a package as they can and we should reasonably expect that what we are given by respective candidates has, at least, a nodding acquaintance with the truth. After all that’s how most voters get their information.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision goes straight to the issue of informing the electorate. The court said that an Ohio anti-abortion organization, Susan B. Anthony List, could challenge a state law prohibiting lying in a campaign. SBA List asserted that Representative Steve Dreihaus supported abortions funded by taxpayers. The truth is that Dreihaus voted for the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits federal funding of abortions except in the case of rape or incest. He successfully filed a complaint and SBA List promptly challenged the Ohio Law. Their argument was that constraining them to the truth was an unreasonable restriction of their First Amendment rights. After all, being forced to tell the truth could be suicide for a campaign and we have laws against suicide.

The Ohio courts didn’t see things that way and so the case wound it’s way to the U.S. Supreme Court. There the justices unanimously decided that SBA List had standing and could sue the state of Ohio. This doesn’t mean that it’s legal to lie to people in a political campaign. What it does mean is that Susan B. Anthony List can sue the state of Ohio for the right to lie to the public in a political campaign. The lying issue will probably find it’s way back to the Supreme Court where, God knows what its decision will be.

SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said: “The truth or falsity of political speech should be judged by voters, not government bureaucrats.”

Good one Marjorie. Just like the consumer and not emergency room personnel should judge the truth or falsity of the ingredients in a microwave burrito.

I for one am glad to see this obsession with truth being challenged. This will make for much more interesting campaigns.

For instance, Senator Begich is not only responsible for the mess at the VA. He also personally shredded the records of thousand of vets and used the squiggly bits of paper as confetti, which he rained down upon his limousine when he gave himself a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Think of the possibilities. The only restraint is our imagination. Campaigns will no longer be handicapped by veracity. Who cares if Senator X or Congressman Y voted for Obamacare. What we really need to know about are these allegations of human sacrifice.

What does it matter if the new tax structure encourages business or just depletes the treasury? What I want to know about is the pending invasion of anarchist accountants, bent on marching us all off to labor camps.

Benjamin Franklin when asked if we had a republic or a monarchy answered: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The health of our republic is dependent on well-informed electorate. So far we’re “keeping it,” but we haven’t heard the last from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chuck Legge is a freelance political cartoonist and community columnist who lives in Sutton.