“Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave.....”

The complete quote by Sir Walter Scott (an Eighteenth Century Scottish author) is, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”.


Doesn't that quote sort of describe the present-day politicians who are now running our country? No matter what party you are affiliated with or support, you'll have to admit that deception (and obfuscation) are endemic as to how they operate in the pursuit of their political goals.


It seems that all politicians are not in favor of excess government spending, but how come we have excess government spending? It seems that all politicians are against poverty and for the poor people, but we have more poor today than in the past? It seems that all politicians are against excess taxation, but why do they continue to raise our taxes, especially against the the job-producing entrepreneur class? Most all the politicians seem to be against all the excesses of government, but we seem to have more excesses than ever before. Is that the “tangled web” Sir Walter Scott was referring to?


In this, the worst recession since the “Great Depression”, we keep hearing from this Administration that we have turned the corner and that our economic situation is improving (how many “Summers of Recovery” will we be subjected to before we actually turn this listing ship around?). Is that a form of deception when national unemployment is at 8.2% (in real terms 17%), when our national debt is over $15.5 trillion and rising (which represents about 100% of our GDP), when home foreclosures are at an all time-high, when real wages had declined 3.1% in 2011, when home prices have dropped by more than 15% nationwide (but higher here in Florida)? To any impartial observer, the answer is a resounding “YES”, it is a form of deception to give these rosy scenarios when the facts tell a different story.


During the run-up to the passage of the ObamaCare bill, in 2009, we were told of the many glorious things that were contained therein. Some of these claims were made by politicians, who hadn't even read the bill, which were outright deceptions (lies). They claimed that costs would be lowered, in fact they claimed that the cost of the bill was $970 billion, but just recently the C.B.O. calculated that the cost is now $1.7 trillion and rising (therefore what they claimed was not true), that workers could keep their present insurance coverage (many companies are now dropping coverage, ex. 3M Co.). They also claimed that coverage would be voluntary, but the person refusing coverage would be fined, and on and on.


Do we really need anymore verification of what Sir Walter Scott opined in the Eighteenth Century when he said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”? I think that many of today's elected politicians will find out that the electorate has finally figured out that they have been deceived by the people they elected to represent them. Many were voted out this past November. The next step will be to clean out the rest of the House the Senate and the Presidency in 2012. Thank God for little miracles now and for bigger miracles later!


Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann