WHAT IS A MUMPSIMUS?

I’m sure most people never heard of that word and wouldn’t have a clue as to its meaning, but it is very relevant today especially in trying to figure out the political rhetoric that is being passed around by some very influential people.

The word “mumpsimus” is defined as a person who clings stubbornly to something that is wrong even when he knows it is wrong. Who, in this great country of ours, does that definition remind you of? I’ll give you one guess. That’s right, our “Spender in Chief”, Barack Hussein Obama and his whole gaggle of Chicago thugs who inhabit the White House. By the way, “mumpsimus” is not just limited to Obama and the Democrats, but to some Republicans as well.

During and since the campaign of 2008, Obama has made some statements that are patently untrue and deliberately false. For instance, he has claimed that he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone who made less than $250,000, not even “one single dime”. Since he assumed the office of President, he has raised the tobacco tax, an “evil” product, whose effect is felt by mostly poor and middle class people who make less than $250,000, and in addition, he said that he will let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2011 thereby raising marginal tax rates on taxable income on everyone who pays taxes. This includes also the raising of tax rates on capital gains, dividends, and the reinstitution of the “death tax”, which will hit all income groups not just the “rich” people earning over $250,000. Now being a smart man (a genius to his most ardent supporters) he has to know that his not “one single dime” statement is as phony as a “three dollar bill”, but he gets up behind his presidential podium next to his obligatory teleprompter and blatantly lies to the American people and he does it with a straight face. Is that a case of “mumpsimus” or what?

Just recently, he said he was not an “ideologue” when it comes to his policies. Yeah sure, and the moon is made of green cheese? What would you call his statement that he believes in the “sharing of the wealth”, the actual statement he made to “Joe the Plumber” during the campaign. That is right out of the Karl Marx playbook and the writings of Saul Alinsky, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones, and Bill Ayers, all admitted and confirmed socialists/communists. Is that being an ideologue or not? You make the call.

For someone in his lofty position, it would take a supreme narcissist to be able to say these falsehoods knowing that they are false but not admitting it. Even a person with a limited education knows when someone is “fudging” (lying) the truth so blatantly in his public statements, but it only takes a “genius” to deny it.

What other people are afflicted with this malady called “mumpsimus”? Well, how about most of our Congressmen and Senators? From all those legislators who accused, incessantly, that Pres. Bush lied to get us into the war in Iraq on a whim, and accused him of lying to the country when most of his detractors in Congress voted to give Bush the authority to use force to bring about regime change in Iraq and to topple that brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. They used the same intelligence that Bush used in coming to that decision, but being the victim of “mumpsimus”, they put all the blame on Bush and his Administration when they knew what they were saying was untrue and were spreading a vicious canard, all to undermine a sitting U.S. president and to gain a political advantage. Shame on them, but then again, they have no shame.

Will we ever be able rid ourselves of people who can be called “mumpsimus”? Probably not, but we could reduce the number dramatically by voting out the culprits from elective office this coming November. Now go out and do the right thing!

Written by Chuck Lehmann