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Books about Politics and Current Events in The Radical Academy Bookstore Click Here for New & Used College Textbooks at Discount Prices Click Here for College Education Information & Study Resources Shop Amazon Stores in the Radical Academy Bookstore Magazine Outlet Music Store Video Store DVD Store Computer Store Camera & Photo Store Computer/Video Games Software Store Outlet Store Cellular Phones Toys & Games Tools & Hardware Outdoor Living Consumer Electronics Kitchen & Housewares Baby Superstore Apparel & Accessories Gourmet Food Sporting Goods Jewelry & Watches Health & Personal Care		August 14, 2002  Something to Think About   Servants or Masters? by Gordon Francis Corbett   Why do public officials lie? Ordinary criminals lie because they fear legal retribution. Unless they do something really stupid, such as stealing money, that is not true of criminal officials. Criminal officials are officeholders who use their authority immorally. Because they fear that the people might forbid their true goals, they dissemble; they deceive; and, when all else fails, they just plain lie. Nevertheless, when a small ray of truth penetrates the clouds, we see what lies beneath. After the massacre at Peking's Tienanmen Square, President George H. W. Bush stated that he had discontinued talks with the Red Chinese. Months later, reporters found that Bush had continued the talks secretly. When they faced him with his lie at a press conference, he jeered them, defied them, and told them that the American people had elected, not them, but him; and he said that he would carry out foreign policy as he wished. Bush acted as though he were not those reporters' public servant, but their master; and people who try to make masters account for their actions presume above their stations. If Bush Senior had been those reporters' master, they would have deserved his rebuke. Fortunately, because they were American citizens, he was not their master, but their employee. They, in turn, were ours, blowing the whistle on a president who felt free to lie to the people who had elected him. We need access to every fact that no enemy nation could use to attack us. Our Representatives and Senators must resurrect the Freedom of Information Act and make George W. Bush enforce it strictly. Strong light disinfects best.   Enrich your life with a book about politics and current events... Enrich your political & social life with a politics or news magazine... Something to Think About Index Politics Resource Center Main Page
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