My Idiot Congressman Wants To Make It Legal For The Government To Lie To Us

Every time I look at the dorky-looking guy in the picture above, I feel like I owe the American people a huge apology. That's because he is my congressman, Mac Thornberry -- a Republican representing the 13th District of the state of Texas (and Democrats in this area have not even come close to defeating him). Thornberry is not the brightest bulb on the GOP's tree, and the Republican leaders can always count on him to vote as instructed. His only saving grace is that he doesn't author much legislation.

Unfortunately, he's trying to change that. He, along with Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), has tacked an amendment on to the defense authorization bill recently approved by the House of Representatives. It was bad enough that this bill busted the budget agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans last summer by billions of dollars, but Thornberry's amendment makes the bill even worse.

It is legal for the government of this country to spread propaganda (lies) in other countries -- it's immoral and unethical, but legal. But it is not legal for the government to do the same thing to American citizens in this country. That is prevented by two laws -- the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987. These laws make it illegal for the U.S. government to intentionally propagandize (outrageously lie to) its own citizens. Thornberry wants to change that.

His amendment would make it legal for the U.S. government to spread propaganda (lies) in this country. Thornberry doesn't like that the American citizens have turned against the Republican war in Afghanistan (and subsequent occupation). Americans know the truth (that we are not winning and nothing is being accomplished), and they don't like it. The war-loving Thornberry thinks the government should be able to spread propaganda to keep the people supporting the war (and future wars) -- so his amendment would overturn the two laws mentioned above (at least the parts of them preventing propagandizing U.S. citizens).

Now I know the U.S. government already lies to its citizens far too much, but it would be a serious mistake to legalize that lying. It would be just another giant step toward a plutocratic police state (and we are already too far down that road). Democracy cannot survive if the people are not allowed to know the truth.

President Obama needs to veto this bill if it passes the Senate -- both because it spends more money than was agreed on, and because of this idiotic "propaganda" amendment.