One of the worst things that is happening in the political life of this nation is the tendency of political candidate - and let's be honest, both parties do it - to use any opportunity to create a negative impression about an opponent, no matter how dishonest that impression may be.
I received a flyer at my house yesterday that claimed a David Purdue, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Georgia, supports both tax increases and Common Core. That is not true. He supports neither. But the only reason I know that is that I know David Purdue, so I was able to recognize how completely dishonest this flyer was.
To help set the record straight, I had David on my show this morning and we discussed the truth. The tax increase accusation comes from the fact that David said in an interview with the Macon Telegraph that one solution to our deficit is higher revenues. Now that is a liberal code word for "tax increases," but more revenue in itself is perfectly unobjectionable if it results not from higher tax rates but from stronger economic growth. That is the type of revenue David Purdue supports. He has signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge against all tax increases, and believe me when I tell you, Grover Norquist would throw him under the bus in a second if he went against that pledge.
On Common Core, he told me in no uncertain terms that Common Core is terrible and needs to go.
So why do politicians do things like this? Because they can. They wait until the last minute and put out misleading information about opponents in the hope that they will drive down your comfort level with these opponents and vote for them instead.
This is damaging our country in any number of ways. First, as people grow in their recognition of just how dishonest the whole process is, the government finds it increasingly difficult to obtain the consent of the governed. And who can blame the governed? They're constantly being lied to by politicians in order to secure their votes - lied to about opponents, lied to about policies . . . why should the public trust elected officials when it's considered standard fare in politics to lie in this way?
It also has the effect of driving honest people with good ideas out of the process. That guy that you're convinced is a RINO sellout - he's not, but you and a lot of other people have been persuaded that he is, and as a result he will not have an opportunity to make what might have been a very good contribution to turning this country around.
That is what happens when people of both parties covet public office so much that they are willing to do absolutely anything to attain it, and when the political media barely bats an eye because they think it's kind of cool that "politics ain't beanbag" and they can show their sophistication by being so nonplussed about it all.
The only problem with all this is that it results in the election of public officials who can't govern and can't pass responsible legislation.
In case anyone still cares about that.
