AUTHOR’S NOTE: After reading a draft of the commentary below the editor said “Why so negative? Write something happy.” The clipart above is included to comply with that request.
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WHAT DO DISHONEST GOVERNMENT OFFICE HOLDERS MEAN FOR YOU AND ME and THE FOURTH OF JULY?
“To use language to obscure reality to show ‘indifference regarding the truth’ – is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens ‘as equal[s].’”
Justice Clarence Thomas
Is honesty an American virtue anymore? Or is it out of style? Is it in fact a handicap in our personal and public lives when dealing with dishonest people, particularly in public office? How do we compete with liars and conmen who aren’t tethered to the truth? Are those that practice honesty and candor laughed at by those who use guile and deception and thereby get for themselves that to which they would otherwise be denied? It sure seems that way as we encounter a plague of practitioners of dishonesty.
In his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, Lincoln made what would now be an astounding claim saying that the public knew as much about the Civil War as he did after years of being informed about its points and phases. He said:
“The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; …”
In Lincoln’s day they had no television, radio, telephones, internet, email, or instant messaging. What they did have was the spoken word, newspapers, mail, written messages and reports, and the telegraph. Photography was new. On the battlefield, torches, flags, drums, and bugles were the means of communication. Despite this the American public was as well-informed as the President of the United States during the Civil War. Amazing!
This was “Honest Abe” who got that nickname during his nearly 25 years of practicing law in Illinois. He took great pride in it too. He would be a unicorn in today’s political arena.
Dishonest public office holders are un-American and subversive of our way of life. They are costly and expensive for the citizens. They do damage to the public interest by manipulating public opinion even influencing elections and tainting the electoral process.
The campaign to form a District Library here four years ago is a perfect example. Those who wanted a new tax supported independent government library that was not answerable to the Village and imposed its own tax burden on property owners, deceived the public into thinking that the library would close if the voters rejected the formation of a district library. “Save Our Library”, vote “Yes”, was the messaging and it was pure deception. The Village was never going to abandon our library. What we got for this effort is a library that serves a relatively few patrons and extracts from the pockets of District property owners hundreds of thousands of dollars.
More recently, our local school board spent obscene amounts of our money creating confusion around the firing (removal, forced resignation, separation—or whatever label the school board wants to apply) of an employee that in the view of many did nothing worth firing him over. Was it justified? Was there cause? Was it truly “for the children,” as public-school supporters always claim when seeking a tax increase or bond support? Or was it driven by personal motives of one or more board members who placed their own interests above the public’s?
Many people if not most seem to believe the latter, especially given that this board oversees schools that consume large amounts of tax dollars while blithely failing to provide students with the education they deserve. A little over 40% of the students read at grade level and just over 20% can do math at grade level. But the children have great sports facilities. This does not bode well for their futures or that of the country.
As to the Village of Climax this site has revealed the sad situation of the Village’s governance since the election of a new Village president and his enablers in November 2024. If you are unaware, the articles are available on this website.
All this deception and perceived deception, half-truths, lack of reliable public information, is disrespectful of the citizens. It results in a loss of public trust of local government. A loss of public confidence in government results in public dissatisfaction. Public dissatisfaction results in demands for change. At the extremes it can be change of the systemic type. Locally or nationally the results are the same.
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of this nation we are reminded that systemic change can be the result of individuals in power treating the public like serfs or marks or viewing citizens as pockets to be picked. As a nation we are coming perilously close to the point we did in 1776 when the authors of the Declaration of Independence wrote:
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them to another, …”
Today there is a political left and right and neither is happy. The marriage is on life-support.
James Carville, a longtime Democratic political strategist, recently warned about the rise of radicals within his party and suggested it may signal the decline of the two-party system. He notes that younger generations are struggling and believe previous generations failed them and stole their futures. As a result, they are demanding systemic change from the nation and the government we are now celebrating.
We now see socialists and even communists emboldened, running for office, and winning elections. Their language may be updated, but the theory of Marx and Engels is old: promise to socialize benefits, demonize ownership, punish investment, and frame it all as class struggle—then act surprised when shortages and decay follow. Tyranny is always the result.
There is no doubt that we have let down the younger generations in many ways. Much of it has been the result of failing to preserve honesty as a societal value and punishing it when it is practiced. Locally, we can give and demand honesty in our personal lives and rid ourselves of those in elected office who have not met that standard. We should model that for the younger generations so that our contribution to their training might allow them to do better.
Will this nation last another 250 years? Maybe. It remains to be seen. It might but only if enough people who understand the original idea exert sufficient resistance to those who think they have a better idea. Those are all recycled and have historically proven to be unmitigated disasters for people who value liberty above all else.
As Joe Kinsey wrote in an Outkick article published today:
“We cannot forget that there are always scumbags laying in the weeds to destroy everything we hold dear in life.”
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