In Washington, Honesty Is Such a Lonely Word

Commentary

When reality is not what they desire, politicians love to redefine it.

Democrats favor big government and a lot more spending than taxation. The former is what we pay for now in inflation. So the Democrats’ new strategy is to claim that taxes and spending reduce inflation.

We now have the Senate moving legislation with a price tag of $433 billion in new spending and $327 billion in new taxes, and it’s called the Inflation Reduction Act.

This is like McDonald’s presenting a Big Mac that has more meat, cheese and sauce and calling it the Weight Watchers Special.

Our president and Congress have collapsed in the polls and we are getting word games.

A common definition of recession refers to two consecutive quarters in which there has been economic contraction.

The Commerce Department reported just that the U.S. economic growth was 0.9 percent during the second quarter. After a contraction in the first quarter, this follows an increase of 1.6%.

Recession?

Our president said no. Janet Yellen (our Treasury Secretary), who recently apologized for her error last year and denied that inflation was coming, called a “rare, stand-alone news conference” at Treasury Department to assure us that we’re not in a recession.

It reminds me of Groucho Marx who said, “Who’s going to believe? Me or your eyes ?”

Another similar development is that the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act. It will now be considered by the Senate.

The Respect for Marriage Act would make federal law legalizing same-sex marriage.

This reaction is to a comment by Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concur opinion in the Dobbs case overturning Roe V. Wade. It suggests that the Obergefell ruling, where the court allowed same-sex marriages in 2015,, should be reexamined.

Why does this act be called the Respect for Marriage Act, and not the Redefine Marriage Act.

This is just more Washington word-game culture. We now see that government spending and taxing are suddenly about reducing inflation and subsequent quarters of economic contraction being not about recession.

To call this bill the Redefine Marriage Act is a slap on the face. It’s something that Washington has never seen before.

It is crucial for advocates of same-sex marriage to refer to this as the Respect for Marriage Act. This implies that for those few thousand year in which nobody doubted that marriage was between man and woman we have disrespected it.

Now that we are in a new age of enlightenment, we know the truth about marriage and vows between people of the same sexuality, so we respect this holy institution.

A recent New York Times poll indicated just 13 percent of Americans are happy with how things are going in our country.

It is not a surprise. Why is America so unhappy?

Billy Joel sang “Honesty .”

” many years back.

“Honesty can be so lonely / Everybody is so untrue/ Honesty rarely gets heard/ But mostly, what do I want from you .”

?

As we enter elections in these turbulent times, it is worth recalling the words of Thomas Paine who stated, “We have the power to start the world over again .”

Those who aspire for political office and power might consider that many among the 87 percent who are not happy with our country today and where they see it headed, know that truths exist–truths upon which a great nation was built–and despair how they have disappeared in our public life.

Leaders with the strength to admit defeat, regardless of how difficult, will awaken many souls within our country who long for better times and recall them.

The views expressed in this article do not reflect those of The Epoch Times.