Lying liars and lingering trust

Waking up this morning, I was thinking about honesty and its effects on trust.

I went to school in the 80's. The rebellion of the 70's was in my rearview mirror. Teachers slapped their students, both parents went to work 40 hours a week and kids ate ready made food out of a box. Parents smoked two packs a day with the windows closed while watching The Dukes of Hazzard on Friday nights.

There was a smell of trust lingering everywhere. We were told to respect authority. We were told to respect adults, whether deserving or not. 

And we did.

Our freedoms had to be appreciated. We were taught to hate communism because their aggression was pushing nuclear war. We didn't want to be controlled by the government like the people of Russia. Communism was our enemy and democracy was our saviour.

We put our trust in government to do what was right. We expected them to put our needs first. And they seemingly did, until we caught them.

They lied to us. They stole from the public coffers to pay for personal gains. They cheated on their taxes but told us to pay our share.

These leaders are orators. They talk with a smoothness of Marvin Gay and the confidence of Chuck Norris. They know how to use words like Shakespeare to make it seem like we were wrong. So we believe them or vote them out, hoping the next leader will make things right. Then we find out the new hope lies too.  The new boss is like the old boss. 

The Who wrote about this in their song, "Won't get fooled again".

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again, no, no

Yeah
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

So when do we stop believing these liars. In 2016, I predicted Donald Trump would be the next President of the United States. Trump sounded nothing like a politician. The population was tired of hearing the same-old rhetoric. Trump didn't do that. He appealed to something deeper within the voters by using his genius in marketing and branding. 

He lied to the public so many times, it's hard to see the difference between truth and lie. 

Liars exist in every country, communist government and democratic.

In Canada, Bill Morneau, the Minister of Finance resigned in the summer of 2020. The Minister of Finance is one of the highest positions in Cabinet other than the Prime Minister. Morneau took $40,000 from the public coffers to pay for a humanitarian mission to Ecuador for him and his family. When discovered, he apologized and paid it back before resigning from his position. 

Morneau's hand was caught in the cookie jar. It was only $40,000 of the $300 billion from the Canadian taxpayers, the equivalent to a cup of coffee from an average person's salary. 

In my first business, I caught an employee stealing from me. Thinking the person was sorry, I gave them a second chance, which allowed them to get smarter and steal from me again. With a little forensic accounting, I'll bet Morneau had more indiscretions than we know. He had power, and took advantage of his power. 

We want to trust these people, but it's getting harder knowing that power corrupts.

This lack of trust is translating to more than politics. It's touching education, healthcare, transportation. As an example: 52% of Canadians don't want to take a Covid-19 vaccine. They don't trust its efficacy. 

How many more times will the people allow this?

Without trust our democracy is a Shakespearian tragedy in the waiting. And it's getting hard to trust these lying liars.

If they'll lie about stealing money for personal use, then they'll lie about anything for personal gain. 

Russia wasn't our enemy. It's always been ourselves. The Great Roman Empire survived and thrived for 500 years, yet it imploded on itself from lies, overtaxation and government corruption. 

Es tu Brute?