Getting Your Mouth Washed Out with Soap for Lying?

For many who grew up in the heartland, away from big city life, we were taught lying was wrong and not to be tolerated. In school and at home, telling lies big or small brought discipline. "Go to your room" to a real spanking or "you're grounded". The worst punishment for me was getting my mouth washed out with soap -- Yuk! Didn't take more than twice for me to get the message and the rules by which civilized people are supposed to live. 

While not often, you might be fired for lying to your employer. A mouth washing with soap would have been more appropriate, but may not have had the same results as being dismissed from your job. In the military, discipline and punishment for lying are harsher because people may die as a result of your lying.  

Today manipulating the truth, distorting the facts, stretching the truth or just out-and-out lying has become the norm in public discourse. Of course, we've seen this trend in politics for years, but it is particularly evident today, and by acceptance, spreading more widely to our educational institutions, workplace and even within family discussions. It has become so bad we tend to believe people blatantly lie and the listener has to fact check them for accuracy before they can be believed. Lying is so perverse in our society, that newspapers and social media have schemes to measure the strength of the lie or the accuracy of statements made publicly.

Some who have been caught in a Big Lie have lost employment and have been brandished for their transgression. In some cases, character assassination and transgressions from ones past are wrongly dissected in public. It was on full display in the U.S. Senate Hearings for the confirmation of Supreme Court Judicial candidate, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

Worse yet, members of the House Democrat caucus frequently and publicly stating that President Donald Trump can only lie and will lie to the American people. So who is lying? Democrats or our President? Why should either lie? Is this cereal? Are we just dreaming this? Makes me want to get a bar of soap and throw it at the TV whenever I see this. Makes me want to throw up in disgust.

I and other suburban Atlanta residents got caught up in a redistricting debacle in 2012, thus exposing us to a new level of ignorant politics. Our new House Representative, a Democrat as a result of redistricting, recently asked a Navy Admiral in budget hearings if the island of Guam was in danger of tipping over by significantly expanding our military presence on that island. Yes, he really said that more than once and is a matter of public record. He also mimics his caucus' cry for the impeachment of the President on accusations without proof, facts or evidence of misdeeds by the President. Would it be appropriate to send Congressman Hank Johnson a supply of soap to wash his mouth out when he blatantly lies?  Yes, even the President's statements, at times, could use some mouthwash.

Still worse is how this widening division between Americans is driven by shouting and lying contests. No one wins. In the meantime, the duly elected President, a FACT that many Democrats are still not willing to accept and are counting on a Special Counsel's witch hunt to provide impeachable evidence, has remained focused on keeping the promises he made during his winning campaign. Policies and arguments which assured his election. Policies and actions which has improved our lives and brought about the greatest and most widely spread prosperity in American history in less than 18 months of his first term. These facts cannot be refuted even by layers of lies that these accomplishments are not true. 

Whether you like or dislike his personality or character is NOT the issue for most of the voters who elected Donald J. Trump. Downsizing government cost and waste. Draining the Washington DC swamp of corruption and elitists who think they know more about making decisions for the rest of us were expected from a winning Trump administration. Unprecedented manufacturing job creation was an outcome we expected. Breaking out of anemic GDP growth was also anticipated from a Trump Administration. 

Securing our southern border to control immigration with a wall or improved barriers was and still is expected from a Trump administration. Fixing the broken immigration process, whether it is the overstaying of visa visitors, chain migration issues or resources to improve processing illegals who present themselves at the border claiming asylum, Congress has an obligation to fix these irregularities once and for all. Wasn't this was supposed to be fixed by Congress during the Reagan Administration in exchange for amnesty for millions of illegals? 

The question many ask is why this issue and the creation of so-called sanctuary cities, or a state in the case of California, and politically motivated restrictions placed on some local law enforcement to turn over illegals to be deported when arrested for local crimes. What is it about illegal aliens or politely called "undocumented workers" being deported that causes such resistance? Two primary reasons are clear. One, some employers want to keep the flow of illegals to keep their labor costs lower. Two, Democrats believe these illegals are beholding to Democrats for votes for supporting their illegal presence and a potential path to citizenship, even though illegal aliens have no rights to vote and are breaking the law by their very presence on U.S. soil. Why is this so hard to accept for so many citizens? Do they not care about "enforcing the law"? Do they not care about the crime, drugs and human trafficking this is a causal effect of unenforced law? Have we revealed who are the people who are organizing, advising, and funding caravans from Central America and why? These are the issues driving this national conversation.

Unfortunately, too many Democrats just don't want our President to succeed. The reason is about "power", not temperament or personality. Dems had the power for eight years and nearly destroyed our Republic, but they want it back so badly. Democrats are using character assassination, lies, identity and racial politics to derail any further advancement of Trump's policies, hoping to return the Senate and White House to their control in 2020. So, President Trump will take his case to the American people and use every resource and legal method to accomplish what he promised -- which is why he was elected. 

This isn't a daytime political TV "soap" opera as is often portrayed by Dems and the mainstream media. This is real life. Everyone is affected by the outcomes. Societal use of soap is meant to clean us from dirt, corruption and ill will toward one another. Perhaps a mouthwash with soap on occasion would remind all of us of the importance of honesty as the best policy.