I recently happened across a paper written through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that posits the acts of lying versus being misled. The author, after extensive discussion on semantics, concluded that individuals prefer being misled rather than being deliberately lied to, despite the inarguable facts that both involve thoughtful and deliberate deception.
In the world of politics, policies and "principled governance," the American public has reached a level of cynicism and distrust as those on both sides of the aisle employ both forms of deception and is demonstrating, like never before, its displeasure with rampant dishonesty.
Americans in flyover country have fallen victim to politicians standing in their midst and making wildly popular claims that match the crowd's philosophical leanings - only to shift their rhetoric and behavior as easily as someone changes an overcoat.
The Left is told how the middle class is disappearing and demands an increase in the minimum wage while working feverishly to allow in illegal immigrants who will take those entry-level jobs.
The Right has been promised, since 2008, that spending is the problem in Washington, D.C., and not revenue - which is true. In 2014, according to the Tax Policy Center's annual data, Americans sent more than $3 trillion in taxes from earned wages and transactions to fund the federal government. That same year, the government spent more than $3.5 trillion. With the fiscal year that just ended in September, the federal government spent $3.7 trillion with incoming taxes only totaling $3.2 trillion - again, a deficit spending year with Republicans in charge of both chambers of Congress, where the "power of the purse" resides.
The Left has been told that the cost of health care would spiral downward after Obamacare, among other promises associated with the Democrats' "landmark" legislation. After more than half a trillion dollars was taken from Medicare, millions face soaring deductibles and increasing premiums.
The Right was promised that Obamacare would be repealed and that funding for Planned Parenthood would end.
On education, the Left has been promised reforms to yield a prepared workforce and the Right has been promised that education would, indeed, improve as a result of accountability measures and competition in the form of parental school choice. Currently, Tennessee celebrates a 37 percent proficiency rate of fourth and eighth graders reading at grade level. In other words, "hurrah" that we spend hundreds of millions on an enormous system to have 63 percent unable to read at grade level.
Now, for those who ridicule the public for its anger toward the government and elected officials, stop embarrassing yourselves. The American public is treated like an abused spouse who is fervently promised real change - over and over. And yet Congress passed the largest spending bill in the history of our nation's existence, a bill that fails to address a single promise noted above, much less other problems such as the concern about terrorism.
A quote attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli, a founder of modern day political science and an Italian historian, sums up America's federal government rule over its law-abiding citizens: "Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."
Robin Smith, a former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, is owner of Rivers Edge Alliance.