Yesterday, I was involved in what has become a daily, if not hourly, task for me ... an argument with a low-information voter about one of the many unconstitutional atrocities going on in America today. We were "discussing" the legislation that was passed on New Year's eve, and how the "tax increases" contained in the bill would affect regular Americans. He started out by taking issue with the fact that so many conservatives are calling the bill a huge tax increase for the middle class. Personally, I have to agree with his position on that. I have no problem admitting that the bill does NOT directly raise INCOME taxes on the middle class, and I'm also willing to admit that restoring Social Security withholding to the previous rates is not really a "tax increase" either, since I've never been willing to call Social Security WITHHOLDING a tax. Our government calls it a tax, and treats it like a tax, so it's really no surprise that so many conservatives are calling this bill a middle class tax increase, but it really isn't supposed to be...
Of course, there are plenty of other sneaky taxes coming our way, and I didn't miss the opportunity to point out the fact that these, and ANY other tax increases levied against the "rich", would eventually find their way down to the middle class, but I'm just not willing to take part in parroting the numerous misleading statements about "tax increases for the middle class" that I've been seeing all over the conservative media. After we came to a quasi-agreement on that point, we moved on to discussing the impact that the higher FICA rates would have on the economy. I stated that I thought the rates should have never been reduced, since the fund is already insolvent, and basically, he agreed with me on that point...
Where we got into our dispute was when he made the subsequent statement that "nobody has raided the Social Security trust fund". Of course, anyone with an ounce of sense knows that is a BLATANT lie, and I promptly called him out on it. Imagine my surprise when he immediately responded with "official information" from the following government web sites to back up his claim...
Internet Myths 1
Internet Myths 2
Apparently, the Social Security administration has seen fit to blow a bunch of our money preparing, and disseminating links to, a web site specifically dedicated to "Debunking Some Internet Myths". According to the Social Security Administration, "Myths and misstatements of fact frequently circulate on the Internet, in email and on websites, and are repeated in endless loops of misinformation. One common set of such misinformation involves the history of the Social Security system...."
Of course, one of the primary "myths" they seek to debunk is the "myth" that our money has been stolen, thrown into the general fund, and misappropriated...
After reading the information on both of these sites, it's virtually impossible to avoid reaching the conclusion that our government is re-writing history as we speak, and disseminating blatantly false information that can only be described as propaganda, at our expense. Welcome to the new Ministry of Propaganda...
This is the sort of thing we would expect to see in the old USSR, not in America. We are now on the brink of a complete collapse of reality in this country. Between the MSM and our own government, the lines between truth and fantasy are being blurred, and our history is being re-written in an attempt to dissolve all links to reality. If we don't take action soon to regain control of this corrupt monstrosity we call our government, America as we know it is finished.
