Source: U.S. Army, “The Big Lie,” 1951.
By Duane A. Miller — “Resolved!” The word just feels strong. By definition, resolve is, “to make clear or understandable.” In legal documents, the word heads the paragraphs that follow the “Whereas’.” What is resolved is what is decided and promised based on the stated premises. Resolved indicates a commitment to a particular course of action. The key word is “commitment.”
Most of us make New Year’s resolutions. Based on last year’s performance, we resolve to do better. We resolve to lose weight, to get in shape, to make more money, to be kinder, to give more to charity, and many others. Unfortunately, most of our resolutions don’t last more than 24 hours, if that. We don’t make the commitment necessary to achieve the success we wish in whatever area.
The word “resolve” has another definition that may not be as familiar to you. It is, “to break up, to separate, to change by disintegration.” We saw both definitions on display by Congressional Republicans over the New Year Holiday. We watched Republicans “dis-integrate” before our very eyes. They did not keep-it-together when it most mattered. It was made very “clear or understandable” that they had no more courage-of-their-convictions than most of us exhibit in our personal New Year’s resolutions.
Political Expediency Lacks Resolve
Led by Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner, the Republicans abandoned their cost-cutting demands and handed the Democrats and President Obama the tax increases they sought to impose. The Bill which avoids the so-called, “fiscal cliff,” inadvertently affirms that political expediency trumps principle.
One Republican House member was asked by a reporter about his vote, his response was telling. He did not and would not discuss the legislation. His only words were, “I’m tired. I want to get out of here.” Really? That’s it? You’re tired and want to go home? Poor baby!
While I fully understand that politics embraces compromise, at some point principle must trump expediency. The President and his party are trumpeting that they “cut” taxes for or prevented the greatest “tax hike” on middle class Americans. The fact is that neither is true.
The taxes in question were across-the-board cuts in taxes enacted during the George W. Bush Administration by a Republican, not Democrat, Congress. In 2001, 211 Republicans, 28 Democrats, and 1 Independent passed the tax cuts in the House, 153 Democrats and 1 Independent voted against them. In the Senate, 45 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and 1 Independent voted for the tax cuts, 31 Democrats, 1 Republican (McCain), and 1 Independent voted against them.
In other words, if the Democrats had been successful in 2001, there would have been no “cuts” for them to “preserve” for the middle class. We would have never faced “the cliff” because all of us would have been paying higher rates the entire time. The only reason the current bill had Democrat support was the return of the 39.6 percent tax rate on the “wealthy,” something they promised to do when they regained control of Congress in 2006.
The Propaganda Machine
Among others, Hollywood’s propaganda machine was rewarded with some pork in the Bill extending deductions of $15-$20 million per film production and the same per episode for a TV series. So, “Honey Boo Boo” continues to be your tax dollars at work.
We understand that the mainstream media are liberal-socialists. Their reporting to the American public is no different from Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda machine during World War II. Americans do not receive “news” of the day; they receive a spin on events that further a left-wing agenda. Goebbels called his, “The Big Lie.”
The only way the Nazis convinced the German people to support (or even allow) their extermination of the Jews was to tell them a “Big Lie” and then never waver from the original report. Goebbels German news media reported to the German people constantly that the Jews were the real power in Russia, Britain, and the United States.
The Big Lie also contained a form of class-warfare psychology. Goebbels and his media reported that it was the intent of the Jews to exterminate Germans. The report struck fear in the mind of every German and also served to justify the extermination of the Jews. It was a constant barrage of disinformation that caused moral people to stand idle and allow the Holocaust.
Few Americans know that the Office of Strategic Services compiled a psychological profile of Hitler and his propaganda machine during his reign of terror. It stated, “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” (Hitler As His Associates Knew Him, OSS Report, p. 51).
The same tactics have been applied in today’s debate over taxes. And Republicans had a chance to stand on principle and counter Obama’s big lie, but they caved. They didn’t even get the credit for extending their own tax cuts. They were intimidated by the propaganda machine and settled for political expediency over principle.
I would remind every elected official of his or her responsibility. We didn’t elect you to be “liked” inside the Beltway. We elected you to be resolute. If we wanted to have supported the popular, we would have voted for the propaganda machine candidate. Your reelection does not depend on The Washington Post review of your tenure nearly so much as it does the review of your constituency. Go-Along-To-Get-Along is the policy of an eternal minority. You were elected to change that mentality.
Many of us feel betrayed, today.
Duane A. Miller, the President of NuVOICE Nation, is a contributing writer to the Liberty Features Syndicate.
