Saturday, April 30, 2011

There's an American Born Every Minute


P.T. Barnum was right when he said that you can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time. What he forgot to mention is that, to succeed in American politics, all you really need to do is fool most of the people who actually vote most of the time. How hard is that? Not hard at all.

Politicians in this country have been serving up the Big Lie since, well, since they figured out they could. A quick look at recent history provides ample proof of that. Weapons of Mass Destruction Casserole, anyone? It comes with a side of Mission Accomplished Loaf. Be sure to save room for dessert, scrumptious I Never Had Sex With That Woman Pie! Yum!

In their defense, politicians are fighting to survive in a world where the loudest, dumbest, most outrageous statements are the ones that get all the attention. When was the last time anyone in this country listened to the voice of reason? Americans wouldn’t recognize the voice of reason if it knocked over their mailboxes with a baseball bat and fired fifty caliber armor piercing rounds through their front doors. And remember, people truly want to be lied to. That’s just the grease that keeps the machine turning.

Yes, people fool themselves because it suits them to do so. Folks on Medicare want to hear that the rich should pay higher taxes. The rich want to hear that entitlements like Medicare are sinking the economy. Left wingers want to be told that conservatives are gun toting, hairy knuckled Neanderthals. Right wingers want to hear that it’s okay to grab liberals by their long hair, drag them back to their elitist caves and put a bullet in their puny communist brains. And every American desperately wants to be told that America is the greatest country ever! Politicians are perfectly happy to play to this crowd.

So here’s to the big Fibbers-in-Chief and all the little fibbers-in-waiting who keep the rest of us entertained without making us think too hard. Old P.T. Barnum himself would be proud. After all, there’s an American born every minute.

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