Art of the Big Lie
By Mark Alexander No president since Franklin Roosevelt has mastered the art of the "Big Lie" as effectively as Barack Hussein Obama. In my last 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. I concur with the assessment of political analyst Jonah Goldberg that Obama's lies are "the biggest lies about domestic policy ever uttered by a U.S. president." As politically vulnerable Demos in the Senate are scurrying away from the Obamacare train wreck, their intrepid leader, Sen. Harry Reid, yet again repeated Obama's Big Lie: "What he said was true. If you want to keep the insurance you have you can keep it. The problem is, we did not put the bill into effect that way." In other words, you can keep your insurance and doctor, except "we did not put the bill into effect that way." This must be why he exempted some of his staff from Obamacare. I was as stupefied by Reid's reiteration of this now-infamous lie as was the reporter who asked him about it. Is Reid suffering from acute dementia? Has he been imprisoned in some sensory deprivation tank for the last two months? Or is he, like Obama, thoroughly accomplished in the art of the Big Lie? Recall that this audacious technique is a staple of the biggest deceptions propagated by Leftist cadres since the rise of Marxism and its murderous manifestations in successive regimes, most notably the National Socialist German Workers' Party from the 1930s through the end of World War II. 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. Reid's repetition of Obama's lie invokes the need to review the origin of Big Lie theory, as well as the proliferation of Big Lie propaganda today. Adolf Hitler 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."
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." 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 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 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, hange has come to America," which reaffirmed this infamous recent claim: "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. But in my assessment, Barack Obama's Biggest Big 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." For now, at least, Obama has been snared by his own Big Obamacare Lies. Let's hope he stays caught. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.
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