If I had written seven to ten years ago a satire depicting what has actually happened in the last five years, it would have been universally dismissed as too outlandish, and too dark to be funny. That could never happen here.
Now that it has happened, and threatens to continue, we the people have work to do.
Of all the assaults on societal norms in the last four years, the worst (and that’s saying something) is probably the assault on truth. We have been awash in a never-ending torrent of every kind of dishonesty.
This is no accident, or unfortunate byproduct of carelessness. It is a deliberate and appallingly effective strategy. Even worse than the volume and the outrageousness of the lies is the liars’ desired outcome: convincing people – lots of people, as many as possible – that square is round if they say so.
It’s not just about fooling people, then; it’s getting them to submit to the notion that the difference between true and false either doesn’t matter or doesn’t exist.
That’s where we are teetering, it seems, with millions of Americans. That matters, tremendously. So much does it matter that (other than combating the pandemic) our top priority as a nation should be committing to truthfulness – all the time, every one of us, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. In big things and in small.
What To Do Right Now on a National Level
Address Compellingly the Most Destructive Lies Circulating
At the top of the list is the apparent belief of millions of Americans in various ways that “the election was stolen.” It’s not enough to just call these beliefs “debunked” or “discredited”, though they certainly are both. Such blithe and passing characterizations assume that the facts are self-evident. That assumption is not serving us well as a nation.
For one thing, it’s condescending. For another, those holding such beliefs assume the “other side” is lying. People willing to steal an election would be willing to lie about it, they might suppose. It behooves us to have inarguable facts available to every American of good faith interested in the truth. Those too far gone to care what’s true are not the target audience here.
There seem to be five or six of these myths that are particularly widespread. Let’s consider two examples.
More Votes than Voters
One we keep hearing is that 200,000 more people voted in Pennsylvania than were registered to vote. Donald Trump’s tweeted version was that there were “205,000 more votes than voters.” I gather this is not only demonstrably false, but a misrepresentation of the original falsehood.
It seems Pennsylvania State Rep. Frank Ryan issued a release saying the Department of State have 202,377 more people voting at all (including 170,830 more voting for President) than a system called SURE had reported from voting in all the counties combined. The PA Department of State pointed out that Ryan had accessed incomplete information from SURE, before a number of counties had entered final data. That’s all there is to it, apparently.
In saner times, such an embarrassing misrepresentation would be withdrawn with a sheepish apology. That it hasn’t and continues to be repeated means we need a respected, non-partisan entity to destroy this lie in clear, unmistakable detail. Then publish and widely disseminate the analysis with similarly undeniable truth on other 2020-election-stolen whoppers.
The Old “Dead People Voted” Thing
Another widespread myth is the notion that tens of thousands of dead people voted. No, they didn’t. It still seems there is precisely one known case where a man had his long-dead mother vote in Pennsylvania (and he had her vote for Trump, no less). From Trump’s infamous January 2 phone call to Georgia’s (Republican) Secretary of State we know he was told directly that the number of dead people voting cases there was two. Yes, two.
There is no reason to believe any appreciable number of “dead people voted” in this election anywhere. So, we need that apolitical entity to gather all the information for each of the swing states.
Explain Clearly the Significance of the Dismissed Lawsuits
How Courts Work
Start with a reminder on how the courts work. The Judiciary is the branch of government that interprets the law, and then applies it to the facts found in deciding specific disputes. A party must prove a case in order to win it. Courts are where rumors, lies, and unsupported assertions go to die. Lawsuits seeking to overturn an election understandably have a significant burden to present compelling proof.
To grasp these election cases’ results, it helps to consider stages at which a case might fail. One can lose at trial, whether by judge or jury. Before that, there is summary judgment where one side convinces a judge that even if every allegation of the other side were believed, they still cannot win. Even before that, there is simple dismissal in many jurisdictions, where the court just throws out the case because there’s nothing there.
As might be expected, judges do not enjoy being reversed on appeal. If there’s any chance a case has merit, they’ll deny summary judgment to allow the finders of fact to figure it out at trial, with the rules of evidence in effect. Judges are even more reluctant to simply dismiss.
What Happened to the 60+ Cases
Of the over 60 cases filed contesting 2020 election results, it seems one motion was won. It involved the interpretation of a technical aspect of a law in Pennsylvania. The result had no practical effect on the outcome in Pennsylvania. Every other case lost.
Important to note: these cases did not just lose. Exasperated and incredulous judges summarily tossed them out as frivolous. THERE IS, LITERALLY, NO REASON TO BELIEVE THE 2020 ELECTION WAS STOLEN. NONE.
Again, a reputable entity with no axe to grind would help here. Get into details on some of the cases. That might include: how there weren’t even sensible allegations, much less any proof, in some cases; when supposed witnesses refused to come forth under oath; whether anyone is facing charges of perjury; and if lawyers are facing ethics charges for filing frivolous pleadings, false affidavits, or anything in bad faith. Even if neither disciplined nor sanctioned, by the way, lawyers ruin their reputations filing rubbish in court.
Donald Trump was outraged that his appointing of judges did not make them his stooges. What we’ve been through should end any doubt about the critical importance of a truly independent judiciary.
What to Do Right Now on a Personal Level
In short: (1) hold ourselves to the highest standards of scrupulousness; and (2) refuse, however nicely, to accept known falsehoods from others.
Sending Information
Be scrupulous in what each of us says or sends. That includes care with important details, checking before forwarding or repeating; being skeptical of facts that don’t sound right; avoiding spin and exaggeration of facts either positive to one’s position or negative to others’; and exploring and admitting facts counter to our position.
That last one is interesting. Thomas Aquinas urged advocates to build up the opponent’s position before taking it apart, rather than denying any merit. It was good advice. Meanwhile, finding ourselves tempted to bend the truth in support of our position dictates considering what’s wrong with our position.
Receiving Information
Even as we hold ourselves accountable for telling the truth, so must we hold others, however nicely. The receiving end of false information has its own important challenges. Experience makes one a big fan of diplomacy, even while admitting it’s sometimes hard not to feel exasperation. As hard as it can be, a tactful, respectful, calm presentation of fact and perspective works best.
The question here is whether we’re engaging with another to get something off our chest, or to persuade. It is generally not effective to yell “That’s [expletive], you [expletive]ing [expletive]!!!” So if we’re looking to actually accomplish something, it’s take a deep breath and think about what we know that makes the information false, or where we can find a trustworthy, compelling answer.
To be clear, the approach suggested here is toward people of good will who have been conned. Those in high places who’ve been knowingly spreading such destructive lies are entirely different. Hold them to account, call them any name they deserve, and vote them out.
Humility’s Role
Unless you’re very different than I, you’ve been wrong more than a couple of times. And you’ve been “had” a few times as well. (See post of November 19, 2020.) It is neither fun nor easy to admit; sometimes it takes a while. The process of getting over being conned is somewhat similar to grieving, especially when we trusted, cared about, or held in high esteem the person or group who misled us. The stages can include slow realization, denial, anger, and embarrassment bordering on shame.
A dose of humility can help summon the patience it takes to give folks we care about the space they need to get over being conned. As essential as it is to counter falsehoods, it’s just as important to do so effectively – respectfully and with the truth.
Summary
It’s hard to believe we must exhort each other this way, but the saying is true: Honesty really is the best policy. And it’s anything but naiveté. We’ve seen where it brings us when we slip from spin to less than the whole truth, to little lies, to constant lies, to big lies, to constant Big Lies.
We can’t have it. None of it is acceptable, especially from persons in positions of trust, and from media outlets presenting themselves as “News”.
The Election of 2020 was actually a triumph of American democracy. In the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years, more Americans than ever voted in the cleanest election it is possible to conduct in the real world. Voter suppression may have had an impact on the margins of the outcome, but it didn’t work regarding the outcome. Even the farcical hindering of the Post Office didn’t work. Extraordinary.
Yet, a series of endlessly repeated lies by the election’s loser, and his supporters, created an opening for our country’s enemies to dismiss our way of life as a pitiful sham. The culmination, at least so far, was on January 6, of course. Talk about un-American activity! It was planned and calculated to do us the most harm possible. It was also the last thing a new President needed.
As previously posted (again, post of November 19), Joe Biden, the Congress, federal and state prosecutors, ethics officials, and we citizens all must do our jobs.
After a glimpse into the abyss, it’s Truth or Bust. Demanding truth is not a luxury. Real patriotism requires nothing less.
Ken Bossong
© 2021 Kenneth J. Bossong