By Howard Rich
While you can't fool "all of the people, all of the time," it is surprisingly easy to fool a sufficient number of them to get elected.
"People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."
That's an excerpt from a World War II-era military intelligence report — a document which explored the psychological profile of one of our nation's (and the world's) most dangerous enemies. It also represents perhaps the most succinct encapsulation of the modern-day propaganda method commonly referred to as "The Big Lie."
Who was the subject of this particular intelligence report? Adolf Hitler.
And while history is unlikely to witness a repeat of anything approaching the horrific genocidal barbarism perpetrated by the murderous Nazi "New Order," that doesn't mean American politicians of both parties aren't still employing the same propaganda techniques utilized by its reviled leader.
In fact, after Bush Republicans used "The Big Lie" to grow government and rack up huge deficits (while telling us they were for "limited government and less spending") President Barack Obama is now using it to expand government further and rack up even larger deficits under the banner of "hope and change."
Of course Americans still searching for "hope" amidst our ongoing economic malaise know that the only real "change" has been the cost of these lies — which keeps adding up at the expense of our liberties.
How many "Big Lies" has Obama told? Frankly, it's becoming difficult to keep track of them.
Most recently, the top actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid — a pair of programs that shouldn't even exist in the first place — revealed that millions of American seniors will have to pay increased out-of-pocket health care costs next year for "less generous benefit packages" as a direct result of ObamaCare.
This is due to government's failure to acknowledge basic economic realities – which is already costing taxpayers hundreds of billions each year (even as these programs' unfunded liabilities continue to soar).
Last month, a Kaiser Family Foundation report showed that family health care costs are up by 14 percent in 2010 — with even larger increases forecast for future years, again as a result of ObamaCare.
"Health reform mandates new levels of coverage that will increase employers' costs at least until 2014," a Kaiser analyst noted.
Beyond higher costs, ObamaCare is already reneging on government promises regarding prescription drug plans — another benefit that never should have been subsidized by taxpayers. According to a study released earlier this year by Avalare Heath, as many as 3.7 million seniors could be forced out of their prescription drug coverage under the new law next year — ostensibly so the government can provide them with "more meaningful choices."
All across the country, ObamaCare's costly new mandates are driving Americans out of their existing coverage and forcing them to pay increased out-of-pocket expenses — perpetuating the worst inefficiencies of government-run health care.
"This much is clear: If the law with its expensive mandates remains on the books, millions of Americans are going to lose the health care plans they have now — plans the president repeatedly promised they could keep," Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe wrote recently.
Obviously, these ill effects don't even begin to address the damage done by ObamaCare's individual mandates and costly tax hikes — which not only trample on the Constitution but also violate Obama's promise not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $200,000.
Of course we've been lied to by this administration before. Obama promised to bring transparency and accountability to government, but then he negotiated his health care bill in secret so that he could steer billions of dollars to his biggest labor union supporters. Then Obama removed new disclosure requirements for these union leaders — making it impossible for the public to know how they're spending all of this taxpayer-funded largesse.
And who can forget "The Big Lie" of Obama's so-called stimulus plan — which administration officials said would save or create more than 3 million jobs and keep unemployment below 8 percent? Clearly those assumptions — along with Vice President Joe Biden's promised "Summer of Recovery" — were diversions designed to fool the American people.
As America heads to the polls in November, let's hope we don't get fooled again. We've had an elegant sufficiency of "Big Lies," now what we need are real citizen leaders who are willing to tell us the simple truth about all of these unsustainable programs.
The author is chairman of Americans for Limited Government.
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