George Rebane

The White House announced yesterday that it will withhold from Congress key economic information that it generates and distributes in the normal course of affairs.  The Heritage Foundation reports that –

The White House … would be delaying release of updated financial and economic forecasts until the middle of August. In other words, its usual mid-July update of key forecasts for policy makers will not be published in time for expected House and Senate votes on health care reform. This delay matters enormously to the deliberations of Congress on this central issue. If it knew that the near-term budget picture is worsening and that it cannot count on a recovering economy to produce much needed revenues for reforming health care, it might hesitate in passing legislation that would add tremendously to the national debt. (More here)

Such withholdings in non-governmental affairs would be either outright illegal or beneath the moral character of upright individuals.  Obama is purposely letting Congress proceed with a perceived truth about the economy that he knows is materially different, i.e. a lie (see ‘philosophical aside’ below).

With this act of withholding relevant information, that the White House clearly feels will impact Congress’ Obamacare against the interests of the administration, Obama descends into the realm of the common Washington sleaze bag politician.  Obamacare, already on shaky ground in Congress and the national polls, is now being given the bum’s rush through the halls of the Capitol so that it may not receive the attention that it must.

To date Ruminations has served to counter the ideological direction that Obama is leading the country.  However, there is nothing immoral or unethical about doing your best to live out and implement your revealed ideology.  An ideology is but a structured set of tenets that, if actualized, its holder believes will achieve some set of salutary social goals.  Candidate Obama made clear to the intelligent voter that he is a collectivist cum socialist, and that he would do his best to lead America down the European path.

Obama has characterized himself from day one as being a cut above in character from politics as usual.  The man has been given his chance to demonstrate that, and through this denial of information to Congress and the American people, has declared that he is nothing but a ‘business as usual’ politician with a defective ideology.

*** A little philosophical supplement into some relevant operational semantics

We generally define a lie as a known and directed falsehood that is intended to deceive.  Ancillary to this understanding is that the deception may either be intended to harm, hinder, or help the directed victim of the lie.  There are many ways to ‘tell’ a lie; three of the most common types are –

Type 1. Making a statement of fact that the liar knows to be false.  (The Bald-Faced Lie)
Type 2. Inducing a trusting victim to behave so that it leads to a result anticipated by the liar but not anticipated by the victim.  (The Nudge Lie)
Type 3. Allowing a trusting victim to spontaneously behave so that it leads to a result anticipated by the liar but not anticipated by the victim.  (The I-minded-my-own-business Lie)

In both Types 2 and 3, the victim is known by the liar to trust in the effective force of a social contract that represents each as behaving in the best interests of the other.  In other words, the victim believes the liar to be fully apprised of the situation and its consequences, and trusts the liar to issue any due warnings/advisements.  The following vignette nails this down.

Work colleagues Sam and Joe, currently vying for the same promotion, decide to see the Grand Canyon on the way back from a business trip.  While taking photographs at the edge of a remote part of the canyon rim, Sam asks Joe to snap a picture of him.  Joe turns around and with his back to the rim becomes absorbed framing Sam whose image overfills the viewfinder. 

Type 1:  Joe sees an opportunity and instructs Sam, “Back up Sam, you’ve got plenty of room.”  Trustingly Sam does and the canyon echoes with his scream as he plummets backward into the abyss.

Type 2:  Concentrating on the camera Sam says, “I think I need to back up to get this to look good.” as he walks backward toward the precipice.  Sam hears Joe say “OK.” just before he looses his footing and disappears over the edge.

Type 3:  Concentrating on the camera, Sam unthinkingly backs up to include more scenery in the picture of Joe.  Joe sees the impending disaster and continues posing as Sam disappears over the edge.

Depending on our values and mores, each succeeding one can be argued to hold the liar less culpable.