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December 12, 2013

Mastering the Art of the BIG Lie

Democrats have excelled at “Distorting the Truth Infamously”

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” –Article II, Section 1, Constitution of the United States (1787)

Leftists at the helm of the Socialist Democrat Party, and their Leftmedia propagandists, are this generation’s undisputed masters of propagating the “Big Lie.”

No president has mastered the art of the “Big Lie” as effectively as Barack Obama, who declared in his 2010 address to the nation, “The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.” That was certainly true about Obama. Well, with the possible exception of his side kick, Joe Biden, has devoted his entire career to perfecting his ability to propagate lies, now being the undisputed champion of “lying dog-faced pony soldiers.”

So what is the origin of the “Big Lie”?

In 1925, Adolf Hitler, who would rise to lead the socialist NAZI Party, defined the Big Lie in his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, writing that it must be so “colossal” that the public would be confident that no national leaders “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” (Recall that NAZI is an acronym for Hitler’s antisemitic National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). That’s right, the bloodiest fascists in history were, in fact, socialists.)

“In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”

Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, affirmed that “the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. … It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion.”

Some reading this will question: Really Alexander? Obama and Hitler? Is this another histrionic example of Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1”?

If you’re among those who’d rather dismiss such associations because they seem too strident – or because you want to help maintain Obama’s deception – then your answer is yes. But the fact is, Obama’s lies fit neatly into the Big Lie framework defined by another pathological narcissist, Adolf Hitler.

If you still have trouble making the Big Lie connection, perhaps you can make the Socialist connection.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler also wrote of his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or NAZI), “The party … must not become a servant of the masses, but their master.” With respect to the socialist state and individual Liberty, he wrote, “The unity of a nation’s spirit and will are worth far more than the freedom of the spirit and will of an individual; and that the higher interests involved in the life of the whole must here set the limits and lay down the duties of the interests of the individual.”

Hitler’s regime was founded on his premise, “We are Socialists, we are enemies of the capitalistic economic system … and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.”

“To be a socialist,” Goebbels affirmed, “is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole.”

For those who still find the Big Lie comparison too strident, I refer you to Future of Freedom Foundation president Jacob Hornberger’s paraphrase of the esteemed classical liberal economist Friedrich von Hayek: “There is no difference in principle, between the economic philosophy of Nazism, socialism, communism, and fascism and that of the American welfare state and regulated economy.”

British historian Dr. John Joseph Ray followed, “The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin’s Communism.”

As for Obama’s Biggest Lies, it’s difficult to pick just one, given that his entire presidency is predicated on a lie. Indeed, his whole life is a lie. Even his official White House bio begins, “His story is the American story – values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family…”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Obama was a disciple of bigotry and hate, and he was steeped in Marxist ideology from a young age. His indoctrination is a case study in the advancement of statist tyranny and oppression of Liberty.

Surely one of Obama’s Biggest Lies was his 2008 election night assertion, “The dream of our founders is alive!” Does any right-thinking person now seriously believe that his agenda to supplant Rule of Law with rule of men is consistent with our nation’s founding principles of Liberty, “endowed by our creator?” Of course not.

His sycophantic constituents, however, are another matter. They were too dullard then, and most are still too ignorant to realize they’ve been lied to. The Big Lie remains so big that, cascades of facts not withstanding, they adamantly cling to hope that there is another explanation.

More accurate would be Obama’s victory night declaration, “At this defining moment, change has come to America,” which reaffirmed this infamous claim from a week earlier: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Indeed, that transformation is well underway – though by no means does it still have enough momentum that it is unstoppable.

And here is a sampling of other Big Lies which I have rebutted in one or more columns in recent years.

Obama promised to have “the most transparent administration in history” when, in fact, his has been one of the least transparent. Remember the “five days” everyone will have to review his proposals online? He said, “I will restore trust in Government.” That one is as laughable as, “Whistle blowers will be protected in my administration.” His failure mantra for his first four years was, “Blame Bush.” He sold the massive “stimulus” fraud as necessary to create “shovel-ready jobs,” and it didn’t – unless you were among his government union constituents. Oh, and taxpayers “got back every dime” government “invested” in the bailouts. And where the private sector succeeds despite government obstacles, Obama reminded us, “You didn’t build that.” He promised to put an end to the type of politics that “breeds division, conflict and cynicism,” but his entire administration platform has been built on a foundation of fomenting division, conflict and cynicism, particularly his classist and racist plays. He deals race cards at any opening, like claiming those Cambridge cops were “acting stupidly,” and suggesting that if he “had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” Of course, the murders at Benghazi were because of a YouTube video, and in Syria, it was “the world’s red line.” Holding talks with Iran would be sufficient to contain their nuclear weapons ambitions. He knew nothing about “Fast and Furious,” or the depth of NSA surveillance on U.S. citizens, or the IRS targeting conservative groups. Heck, he did not even know his illegal alien uncle, when he was living with him during law school.

In my Memo to Demos, I outlined Obama’s litany of lies to win passage of ObamaCare, or as an increasing number of Democrats now prefer to call it, the “Affordable Care Act.” Having supported this catastrophic behemoth, they now hope that their refusal to utter the word “ObamaCare” will provide them a measure of political protection. The truth, however, is that they are now irrevocably linked to Obama’s repeated bald-faced lies. Apparently South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson had it right back in 2009, when he interrupted Obama’s introduction of his nationalized health care scheme to a joint session of Congress: “You Lie! You LIE!” yelled Wilson. Subsequently, the ObamaCare deception has been affirmed, repeatedly, by a key architect of ObamaCare, MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber.

I concur with the assessment of centrist political analyst Jonah Goldberg that Obama’s lies are “the biggest lies about domestic policy ever uttered by a U.S. president.”

But in my assessment, Barack Obama’s Biggest Lie was uttered twice, when he took his constitutionally prescribed oath of office. If memory serves, it went something like this: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Pro Deo et Constitutione – Libertas aut Mors
Semper Fortis Vigilate Paratus et Fidelis

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