Democratic Talk Radio: Democratic Voices Column

July 7, 2003

RULE BY DECEIT

The Bush Republicans have adopted "deceit" as the single most important tactic in the way they obtain and exercise power. Republican political “deceit” takes many forms and our column will only touch on a few.

Outright lies are not uncommon or unimportant. Distortions in language and reframing debate in order to avoid real issues are both fairly common. False national security claims and secrecy helps the Bush Republicans deceive the public by denying information to our citizens that they need to make correct political decisions. Controlling the timing of the release of information is one of the most widely used “deceit” tactics.

The 9-11 ties and WMD threats promoted by the Bush White House and Vice President Cheney seem to be outright lies according to worldwide media reports. The campaign promises by George W. Bush that tax cuts would only come after paying down the national debt and after fully funding our unmet domestic needs of the American people certainly seems to be outright lies. Assurances that the extreme powers of the US Patriot Act would only be used to combat terrorism seem to be untrue.

Renaming the (large) estate tax as the death tax is designed to create an emotional impact while clouding a logical analysis of the issue. A real death tax would tax everyone who died. A (large) estate tax is in reality a tax on large estates. The language change is deceitful. Federal taxes on income come in two flavors: payroll taxes (which hit the working poor and middle classes excessively) and traditional income taxes (which were always designed to hit the wealthiest more than the average guy). Republican tax cutters only cut the taxes paid by the wealthy. They call it “cutting taxes for those who pay them.” In reality, most Americans pay their largest part of federal income taxes into the Social security Fund in payroll taxes. Stealing from Social Security is paying for Republican tax cuts being received by the super wealthy.

Secrecy still hides the role of Big Oil in Cheney’s Energy Taskforce. The delay by Corporate Media in reporting the Katherine Harris-Jeb Bush False Felon Voter Purge Scandal until after the 2000 Florida Vote Recount Crisis deceived many Americans into believing that Bush was legitimately elected. The “Sore-Loserman” slogan was heavily reported by the 90,000 plus legal Florida voters stripped of their voting rights by Republican partisans was a non-story. All the current bad public policy is the direct result of deliberate Republican “deceit.”

This column written by Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence (hosts of Democratic Talk Radio). Confirmation of copy: call 931-438-1500 or write Democratic Talk Radio, 7A Planville Drive, Fayetteville, TN 37334.

Sincerely,
Stephen Crockett
Al Lawrence
Co-hosts: "Current Affair" News Talk Program
WEKR 1240 am radio
(931) 433-3545