Getting Wise to Government Lies

Making Sense, by Michael Reagan

Take President Obama and his Cabinet of Liars, please.

We all know what dirty tricks they played to try and stop the sequester’s automatic budget cuts from happening.

Nate Beeler / Columbus Dispatch (click to view more cartoons by Beeler)

They spent weeks trying to frighten the America people into believing the country would collapse into chaos and suffering if the federal government’s sequester-forced spending cuts went into effect.

The campaigner in chief and his chorus of toadies did everything they could to make sure the puny spending cuts — which would have merely taken the federal budget back to its 2012 level — would cause the most pain to the most people.

Supposedly the cuts were going to decimate the ranks of our local police forces and firefighters, throw hundreds of teachers into the streets, create long lines at airports and maybe even leave the United States vulnerable to a military invasion by Greece.

Of course, most of Big Media played right along with Obama’s dirty political game. Like the dupes they are, they publicized every sequester scare-story like it was going to mean the end of America as we know it.

(Too bad the MSM don’t devote the same level of hysteria to covering some of our real problems, like Obama’s runaway federal spending and our un-payable future debt load.)

In case you haven’t noticed by now, Armageddon didn’t happen. The sequester came and the sun is still coming up. Planes aren’t falling from the heavens. And I haven’t had to use my guns to defend my home against a single robber or terrorist.

Even the invertebrate Republicans in Congress haven’t caved to pressure from the special interests who oppose the sequester cuts, though perhaps they just need more time.

So fa,r Obama’s cross-country campaign of whoppers hasn’t worked on the American people, who don’t need Karl Rove to tell them that the “Big Bad Wolf” the president was yapping about every day wasn’t really at their doors.

Another hopeful sign that most Americans are not as naive or stupid as the Obama Gang thinks they are came this week when the citizens of Los Angeles went to the polls.

The mayoral primary was the top draw, but also on the ballot on Tuesday was one of California’s infamous ballot measures.

The official title was “Proposition A — Neighborhood Public Safety And Vital City Services Funding And Accountability Measure.” That’s government-speak for a half-cent sales tax hike.

If you’re not familiar with the fiscal condition of my home city of Los Angeles, it’s a depressing microcosm of the federal government and the state of California. Taxing too much and spending even more, the city already has a sales tax of 9 cents and a projected annual budget deficit of $216 million.

To get voters to OK the higher sales tax and add $200 million in annual revenue to City Hall’s $7.2 billion budget, LA’s politicians imitated the president’s tactics.

Just as Obama tried to scare the public into believing that the sequester would hurt our national security, the local pols here tried to scare voters into thinking public safety would be endangered without Proposition A.

Proposition A was backed by the police chief and outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who used police academy recruits as props and warned of losing 500 city cops if the sales tax hike was defeated.

I’m happy to report that the voters of the City of Los Angeles saw through the sham. Proposition A went down to defeat Tuesday night, crushed by a final margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

Proposition A’s defeat was a minor victory in the great war against government taxing and spending.

But when voters in a liberal city like Los Angeles can’t be scared into voting for higher taxes, it’s a sign that maybe Americans are getting wise to government lies and the politicians who tell them.

Copyright ©2013 Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). He is the founder of the email service reagan.com and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. For info on using columns contact Cari Dawson Bartley at cari@cagle.com or call 800-696-7561.