Who would have thought the day would ever come in America when a person could be sued for exposing corruption? But that is precisely the day that is being heralded as videos of government-sanctioned iniquities begin to surface. Instead of prosecuting the criminal intent of dishonest government-employed deceivers, most major media organizations have chosen to withhold evidence from the public jury that employs them and, instead, prosecute the good citizens that caught the thief. One has to wonder why would anyone stoop to prosecute such courage and honesty! What do they have to hide? What do they stand to gain or lose? And what should we do about it?

 

My remedy is simple. Boycott lies! If it's a politician, boycott the liar out of office by casting your vote for someone you think is more honest. If its a doctor, scientist, or professor, deprive them of the public funding they use to prop up their questionable credentials. If it's a media organization, refuse to watch its programming or to buy the product whose paid promotion keeps its dishonesty on the air. Rather, buy or barter locally from a neighbor. If it's a product, even though it may be more expensive, buy another more honest product instead -- one that is not the planned-obsolescence-brain-child of a greedy corporate executive. If it's a store, go somewhere else. Boycott anything that reeks of deception because if you don't, you'll eventually be fined or taxed for every honest word or noble action. I have little doubt, if the politicians could manage it, that they would so tax the truth that even our thoughts would be bent to fund their dishonest campaigns.

 

In a society that elevates deception to a virtue, honest people become the slaves of tyranny. The end of such a society is hell on earth. Americans cannot imagine the horrors of despotism because they've never lived under a despot. They have not yet encountered their Hitler, or Stalin, or Idi Amin. They are blind to the oppressions of a Mao Zedong or Kim Jong-Il. They cannot fathom that the leaders they've elected to represent them have actually deceived the public into letting them represent their own best interests in the public's name. They cannot imagine corrupt judges, police officers on the lam, or that the institutions responsible for insuring justice could become the vehicle through which justice is most systematically denied.

 

How much longer can we afford to subsidize the thieves that rob us blind? Am I really supposed to feel sorry for the criminals that I've refused to let live at my expense in the lap of luxury to which they've grown so accustomed? I think not! Be they politicians, media moguls, or corporate executives, why should I feel guilty for refusing to fund their unholy kickbacks? Debt and poverty are always the revenue of deception and injustice.

 

Let's debunk a few lies. Bigger is NOT always better. More is NEVER enough. Debt is NOT an asset. And truth is NOT relative. But the only way we can prove such maxims is by living our lives differently than the current status quo. We have fallen into doing what we know only because we don't know any better. But when some courageous visionary dares to buck the status quo, a status quo that has saddled us with debt and spurred us into unsavory action, then there is hope. There is hope because there is a new vision -- a vision that honors truth above convenience.

 

This vision cannot be grasped with complacency. It cannot be dandled tenderly in our minds and fingers as if we had a choice over whether or not we can afford to risk our lives for our neighbor. This vision must be grasped with the same sturdy resolve that our country's pioneers worked the land. Their hands were calloused and raw, their faces bronzed by the sun, their muscles hardened by the weight of the soil they tilled and the trees they felled. But it was honest labor, work for which a man had every right to be proud. And yet, if they were honest, every man had to esteem the value of his neighbor's contribution to his own prosperity.

 

It was not mere work that made our country great, as if effort were enough. Rather it was the humility of neighbors working together, of their own free will, for the common good. Such an opportunity rests before us now. We can once again revive a holy preoccupation with honest labor. By refusing to tolerate hollow deceptions and inferior products, we can send a clear message to our politicians, to the media moguls, doctors, lawyers, and scientists in their pockets, and to the corporate executives that cannot afford to let their candidates lose, that we are dissatisfied with their shallow propaganda.

 

It should be the standard in our country that the only thing no one can afford to do is tell a lie. We set that standard by boycotting deception, dishonesty, depravity, and anything else that degrades the God-endowed nobility of mankind. We need not raise our arms in war, but we dare not restrain our voices from proclaiming truth. That proclamation can echo in every heart, in every home, in every hallowed hall of Congress, and in every courtroom of this land only if honest people will boycott lies.

 

When we stop buying the deception that makes them rich, the government, the economy, the society built on lies can no longer afford to ignore the truth. A lie is only profitable if someone believes in it. But when its bankruptcy is exposed, that lie becomes a liability. We declare our faith with our actions. In a society where citizens have been demoted to the level of mere consumers it is our consumer actions that most loudly and most insistently proclaim our civil concerns. Don't reward deception with your dollar vote!

 

It is my belief that honest men and women still represent the greatest voting block in our nation. But it is my sincere conviction that our voices will not be heard, nor our votes duly counted, until we begin to boycott lies.

 

Michael Hennen