Campaign Lies

[Valin]

Townhall:

Thomas Sowell

Apr. 13 2016

 

If you took all the lies out of political rhetoric, how much would be left? Apparently even less than usual this year.

 

The latest, and perhaps biggest, lie -- thus far -- is that Donald Trump was cheated out of delegates in Colorado because the voters did not select the delegates.

 

Two very different questions have gotten confused with each other. One question is whether this is the best way to choose delegates. Most of us would say "No," but most of us don't live in Colorado, and each state is allowed great leeway in how it chooses to pick its delegates.

 

(Snip)

 

Apparently it all depends on whose ox is gored -- and who yells the loudest, with the most irresponsible charges. It also depends on how conscientious the media are and how gullible the voters are.

 

Other political campaign lies have been repeated so often, over so many years, that they have become part of a tradition that is almost never questioned. Demands for "equal pay" for women, for example, proceed without even a definition of what that means.

 

Some years ago, I was shocked when my research turned up the fact that young male physicians earned substantially more than young female physicians. But, when my research also turned up the fact that young male physicians work hundreds of hours more per year than young female physicians, it was not shocking any more.

 

(Snip)

 

The success of campaign lies depends ultimately on how willing the public is to be stampeded without bothering to stop and think.