Ben Carson has earned a spot atop Santa’s Naughty List this week after a few fibs concerning his life story hit the news media. When Politico reported in early November that Carson had never, contrary to several accounts by him and others, been accepted nor offered a “scholarship” to West Point, he said vehemently (vehement for Carson is like a low murmur, two notches above a whisper) that the media was lying about his background. He was adamant. Carson said, “I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about.” Donald Trump attacked Carson in the days following the scandal, tweeting that this was another of “the many lies by Ben Carson!” Like the opening of the floodgates of heaven, Carson’s reputation was up for ruthless scrutiny. It seemed like nearly everybody had some beef with an aspect or two of Carson’s backstory.
This has left me wondering: Why is it that Carson is feeling the heat when every other candidate in the presidential race has lied? Trump has refuted information published on his own website. His other bluffs include, but are not limited to: claiming the Mexican government “send[s] the bad ones over,” that GDP in 2015 was below zero (ridiculously off) and that unemployment might be as high as 42 percent. These “facts” belie a serious problem in politics. Lying can no longer be monitored by the media — in days past the venerable watchdog for untruths — since the media is often treated like an outright joke. Trump sits in first or second in most predictor polls, and Carson is neck and neck with Trump in the speculative race in Iowa.
Look, if we think back to that figurative episode in our childhood when we were caught stealing cookies from the jar and we lied about it, we’ll recall the one important lesson we learned: lying is bad. I’ll type it again, for effect.
Lying. Is. Bad.
How can we tell our kids this when politicians — the higher-minded officials we elect to run our country and embody our collective morality — get caught all the time in lies and scandals? Here’s an opinion for you: If somebody is lying in politics, especially if it’s over something fundamental and important, don’t support that person. They try to persuade us to vote for them by telling us things that simply aren’t true.
Now, when we consider the case of Carson, I say he’s earned the scrutiny and negative response. His lie was foundational to his entire narrative: the story of a poor kid, pathologically violent in youth, guided by divine light and hard work to a productive adolescence, able to decline a scholarship to West Point, go to Yale, and become one of the most accomplished surgeons of all time. Some of this is definitely true. The parts that are essential to the arc, however, are seriously questionable. Who did he try to stab when he was younger? Was he really violent? Did he really receive a “scholarship” to West Point even though it costs nothing to attend West Point? Did he really “reform” himself or was he just a smart kid who’d go on to weave a compelling, platform-generating lie?
At least, you might argue, this lie of Carson’s isn’t hurting anyone but himself. That’s fair. Trump perpetuates lies to increase support for deportation and the construction of a fictional wall. Carly Fiorina lies to stop public support for Planned Parenthood. Mike Huckabee lies to make his ministerial work seem based in American tradition. These lies hurt people because they inform public opinion about policies and agendas. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have also been known to bend, if not break, the truth. Clinton flip-flopped on her support and account of the TPP deal, and Sanders wrongly claims that income inequality in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country.
It’s our job as the informed electorate to parse through these vying and inevitable bits of untruth to find out what is actually harmful. If you research a little and find out that a politician has lied, take a tip from the media and call them out on it. We need these people to guide us, not lie to us. If we don’t do this, somebody like Trump or Carson might actually end up in the executive office.