Big Lies in American Politics

Lies have always been key components of American political campaigning and of American politics in general. Hearst newspapers lied us into the 1898 Spanish-American wars. Lyndon Johnson lied us into escalating the war in Vietnam. Ronald Reagan had an inability to distinguish fiction from reality. GW Bush lied us into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those are only a very few examples. So, let's examine the big lies of 2020.

1. We can't afford Medicare for all. That big lie ignores basic arithmetic. If you compare the total cost of medical care in the USA now to what it would be with universal Medicare for all, the latter will be much cheaper, perhaps half of what we spend now, even though everyone would be covered, including dental and vision care. That is because we eliminate huge amounts of inflated and unnecessary costs. Hundreds of millions in insurance company superprofits gone. Huge administrative costs in determining who pays for what and collecting those payments gone. Gigantic superprofits from pharmaceutical companies who charge much, much more in the USA than elsewhere gone. Very uneven charges from doctors and hospitals for their services gone. The USA currently spends about $10,000 per person per year on medical care. Tens of millions have no coverage, and dental and vision costs are generally not covered. Canada spends about $5,000 per person per year and covers everyone. Right now, Medicare covers the elder population with the most medical needs, i.e., the most expensive to cover. Covering everyone will be easier and cheaper than just covering the aged.

2. Taxing the rich will hurt the economy. The 1950s were, perhaps, the most economically stable period in the USA. Working people made great gains in real income and benefits. Taxes on the rich and on corporations were much, much higher than now. Taxing the rich is thus very beneficial to the economy.
3. Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the military and on nuclear weapons makes us safer. This one is an incredibly obvious lie. The amount we need to spend to secure our borders and keep us safe is a small fraction of what we actually spend now. And the more and the more sophisticated nuclear weapons we develop, the more peril we face. The threat of terrorism is rooted in and increased by the use of our military to interfere in people's lives. Military spending is also very bad for the economy because salaries are paid to people who produce weapons and other paraphernalia, but no consumers want to purchase those items. That is inherently inflationary.

There are lots of other big lies such as climate catastrophe denial, immigration danger, and many more. These big lies all need to be confronted and refuted. A society built on big lies will have a terrible future.