The lies of children and politicians

I went with my father to Hawaii last week. It was a trip down memory lane. My father has fond memories of being stationed at Hickam Air Force Base. I have fond memories of my father.

My father has always taken great pride in his flowers and his yard. I was little when we lived at Hickam. My father would come home and find his flowers had been dug up. I would have the Hawaiian red dirt on me and one of the kitchen spoons would most likely be found in the flower bed.

When Dad would ask me if I had been digging in his flower bed, I would assure him that it wasn’t me. There is a great deal of research done on young children and lying. Children, as young as three years old, can make a deliberate decision to lie in order to hide their misdeeds.

My father had recently bought a movie camera and when he saw me digging in the flower bed, he got the camera and slipped around the edge of the house to film me. When the film came back from being processed, the whole family was sitting in the living room watching the film.

The moment I saw the footage of myself digging in the flower bed, I immediately said “Daddy, look at that other little Debbie digging in your flower bed.” Even with clear evidence that I was the guilty party, I denied that I had been digging in the flower bed.

While the first lies that children learn to tell are to conceal misdeeds, the second lies they learn to tell are the ones make false claims in order to make themselves look good.

What does this have to do with politics? Children grow up!

The democrats have recently accused the Chamber of Commerce (which is supporting Republican candidates) of using contributions from foreign contributors to fund the Anti-democratic. Looking into the matter, New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau said: "A closer examination shows that there is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents.”

When President Obama’s senior advisor, David Axelrod, was asked by CBS’ Bob Schieffer if he had any evidence that the chamber was using secret foreign funds to influence the election, Axelrod responded ''Well, do you have any evidence that it's not, Bob?'' Mr. Axelrod said. ''The fact is that the chamber has asserted that, but they won't release any information about where their campaign money is coming from. And that's at the core of the problem here.''

The skills learned by children to tell lies in order to hide misdeeds and of making false claims to look good has been taken to the political level. Mr. Axelrod has just made the Chamber of Commerce appear criminal without any evidence. His argument is simply that there isn’t any evidence that they aren’t doing something wrong.

Save me from this type of politics.

My daddy did it!

A few years ago, I kept my grandson for a week. We had bought marshmellows to roast when we went to spend the fourth of July at the River. When I woke up on the fourth, the bag of marshmellows had already been opened and some had been eaten. Knowing the answer before I asked the question, I asked, “Who opened the marshmellows we were going to take to the river?”

Logan didn’t even look up from the television when he told me that his daddy had eaten them. His daddy was almost eight hours away in Alabama. I thought it was funny that my cute little baby was so quick to come up with an answer. I wanted to share it with his daddy.

I walked over to the phone to dial my son's phone number. Talking to myself loud enough for Logan to hear, I said I was going to talk to his daddy about taking our marshmellows. Just as I finished dialing the number, my grandson had moved close to me and pulled on my shirt. “Nana, Nana. Daddy didn’t take the marshmellows, I did.”

On the verge of being caught in a lie, my grandson confessed because he thought he would get in trouble. Isn’t this frequently the case with our elected officials? They lie because they think it is acceptable and that no one will find out the truth. Initially they deny the charges, then they blame other people, and finally they apologize for their bad behavior to a public who doesn’t believe the apology is sincere. We understand that they are apologizing for getting caught not for committing the act.

Research with small children has proven that they are not able to understand that lying is wrong. Unlike children, adults do understand and they lie with deliberate and purposeful reasoning. They know their actions will have consequences. The simple truth is that many politicians do not respect their office and they do not respect the public they represent.

There is an old joke that you know a politician is lying because he is talking. When did it become acceptable for a person to lie. Candidates have had to drop out of political races or resign from office because they were caught doing something they shouldn’t do and then they lied about it. They have been caught in affairs and they lied. They have been caught with their hands in the state or federal cookie jar and they lied. They promised to represent us in office and they lied.

If they are caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing, they hire a spin doctor who twists the events. This is simply another way of lying.

I watched the old movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It makes me long to have someone in office who is honest, even if they are a little idealistic.