Figures Don’t Lie…
Competition is a great thing. It is the Bible, the book of Proverbs, which says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Competition yields true results. Who can argue with the results of a competitive sporting contest? Surely sport exhibits that competition generates winning results to the better teams. So it is with other areas of human endeavor. Free markets yield the best economic results and freedom of ideas yields the best ideals for all.
Yet in our society today the clean result of competition between ideas, products, and people have been replaced by creating a false result…creating “perception” over reality. Nothing will show this better then a quote from Senator Ted Kennedy found in a column by Bruce Bartlett in the Washington Times. Sen. Kennedy was quoted as saying, “it is a standard tactic to take someone’s proposal, misstate it, and then disagree with it. It’s very effective. I’ve used it myself.” Create the perception and let it overrun the reality.
Everyone picks up little sayings that convey great meaning throughout their lives. One such that my father had and then gave to me was “figures don’t lie…but liars figure.” Surely it is time to recognize the corruption that has befallen us through the creation of perception over reality.
Create the perception in the financial markets that companies are doing better and better. Create value for the “share-holders” and drive the stock values higher…creating the perception of growth. And what of the reality?
First comes the collapse of Enron, a company built on the trading of “hot gases” and innovative accounting. The “free” market was surprised…well stunned really, at the rapidity of the Enron collapse. Yet the reign of “perception” is not finished with this country.
Global Crossings, Tyco, K-Mart, and Adelphi cable all crumbling under the weight of reality crashing down on their flimsy foundation of perceptions. And the worst is yet to come, hang-on here comes WorldCom.
The WorldCom collapse under the weight of nearly Four Billion dollars in debt and a legacy of creative accounting is devastating the finely crafted perception of the great economy of the Clinton years. Absolute corruption in the highest office in the land corrupts everything absolutely. As you review the Clinton era it is clear that no one worked harder at creating perception over reality as did the Clinton’s and their army of “spinners.”
While the Clinton’s were the King and Queen of the “big lie” of perception over reality, the Democrats truly were their royal court. Given the direction of this analogy it is not surprising that the Republicans played the role of the court jester for the reign of corruption that we see now in perspective as just the tip of the iceberg.
Eight years of corruption. Eight years of selling the nation’s legacy to the highest bidder. Eight years of a lapdog opposition content to whimper and go along to get along. Eight years of the economy making the American people stupid.
Time to pay the piper, but also time to take back America.
If you like the collapse of the financial markets, and make no mistake every financial backstop will be brought to bear, but slowing the slide will not stop the slide. If you are intrigued by the financial disaster you will love the social upheavals that we will face in the years ahead.
Do not forget the greatest coup of the “perception over reality” crowd as they created the American nation without borders.
The perception that an INS rubberstamp of foreign visa applications will not harm the nation is picking up speed on the slippery slope of reality. Just know that September 11th was not the bottom of the long slide into reality. The political elite’s have yet to act to overthrow the perception in favor of reality.
The perception continues that 1 million illegal aliens entering the country each year will have only a positive impact on the U.S. economy. The perception shills say that importing an unskilled labor pool is necessary, and creating a bilingual culture where once there was unity holds the promise for a better America.
Figures don’t lie but liars figure, and the big lie is that immigration on the magnitude the U.S. has experienced in the last eight years will not harm the nation. As the economies of South and Central America show signs of their own corruption a multitude head north. Mexico is strengthening the border patrols on THEIR southern borders intercepting the line breakers trying to get to the U.S. before Mexican subjects.
And yet the U.S. border remains open, the President seeks amnesty for illegals, Democrats push pro-immigrant legislation, and Republicans juggle and make funny faces. Unfortunately for the American people reality is right around the corner.
It is past time for the American people to get back into the game of governing. It is time for the American people to become competitive once again. It is time for the American people to go face-to-face, nose-to-nose, and fax-machine-to-fax-machine with their political leaders.
It is time to shake the nation back to reality.
Glenn R. Jackson is Chairman of the American Reformation Project, former State Chairman for Buchanan Reform and former state Chairman of the Georgia Freedom Party. Glenn also served on the Executive Committee of the Reform Party USA. Glenn holds an MA in Philosophy from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
© Glenn R. Jackson