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That's the motto we usually attribute to politicians (often rightly so).
Certainly many of them deserve the description, but the same seems rightly attributed to many bureaucrats and some prominent businessmen.
Businesses, politicians, bureaucracies and communities, like ordinary men, have their own destinies. Those destinies are somewhat predictable based upon the morals and lifestyles of leaders. That's why it's important that we appoint, elect and hire leaders wisely, and that they in turn appoint responsible citizens to important posts. One criterion is making sure that moral individuals are in the positions of authority.
Of course in today's society it is not politically correct to refer to anyone as a liar, cheat, or thief. Instead it is now reported that they "hyped the situation," or "they misspoke", or "they were misinformed." Sometimes it is said, "they spoke out of turn," or "they just bragged or exaggerated the facts." I love the ones who say, "It was an oversight and we have tightened security to make sure it doesn't happen again."
My favorite is the old stand-by: "We don't seem to have any information on that could you check back with us in a few days," after which that person becomes "not available."
Unfortunately, our desire to achieve political correctness has simply distorted our language, and it seems to pervade all segments of society. We have to be polite in the way we express a negative in someone's character.
In days of yore, if an individual were called a cheat, liar or thief, it would be an affront to their honor. To defend one's honor, it would be expected that a duel would be held on the field of honor and the matter would be resolved. Some no doubt were unconvinced that the proper outcome was achieved.
We graduated to civility and those who felt besmirched then turned to the courts for relief and possible financial compensation if it could be proved they had been defamed. Back then men were concerned about liable and slander especially with malice.
I suspect that defamation became so justifiably attributed to politicians that the US Supreme Court case of Sullivan v. New York Times seems to be the authority law on this issue public figures cannot be defamed unless it is done with malice. I guess that means it is expected and even accepted when our leaders lie, cheat, or steal. So much for the Ten Commandments, which don't seem to apply to our leaders, unless they want them to.
Lying, cheating, and stealing are not limited to the private sector and flourish in the public realm too. Journalists encounter lies daily from corporate managers, bureaucrats, elected officials and law enforcement agencies. What a strange twist of fate. You should read some of the press releases I receive from all sectors of society.
Well-known cases in point would be the modern robber barons. Primary examples of these are Bernard Madoff, who headed the largest Ponzi scheme in history; former CEO Kenneth Lay and ex-president Jeffrey Skilling from Enron; ex-Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski along with former CFO Mark Swartz and ex-general counsel Mark Belnick; and former HealthSouth's CEO Richard Scrushy. One thing all of these individuals have in common: each of them is a liar, a cheat, and a thief.
Each of these convicted felons felt no remorse, as they cooked their books, cheated investors, and lied to the Security and Exchange Commission. Worse, they stole tens of millions from their investors and company's treasury, while authorizing or allowing their company's respective pensions funds to be raided.
They left thousands of retirees without any benefits or incomes for the remainder of their lives. Each leaves a legacy of disgrace and families to face harsh words of reprisal.
Unfortunately lying, cheating, and stealing has developed into a form of artful deceit. Lying now seems appropriate in fact the norm to be standard fare on rsums submitted with job applications. Apparently job candidates have figured out that future employers are either to lazy or too stupid to check the information provided.
While working for a local newspaper, I once remember doing a comprehensive analysis of a rsum submitted by a would-be political candidate, who was the head of the local Chamber of Commerce. To say that there were some factual errors would be a complete understatement.
In fact, her rsum was a complete fraud, from employment history, schools attended, awards received, and accomplishments attained in the workplace. The candidate just shrugged off the findings, rented a U-Haul, and quietly slipped out of the community in the middle of the night. I have encountered a lot of this over the years but this one stands out because 100 percent of her entire rsum was bogus. I guess she thought that since she headed the Chamber of Commerce, nobody would take the time to check the facts.
As a child, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our ministers and our classmates warned us not to tell lies. Most of us learned the lesson the hard way not just by being told not to lie, but because we did lie, got caught, and got punished. I would personally like to tell you about the punishments I received, but that was long, long ago and there were too many occasions to remember. I'm sure it would require another column to recite the history. But I ultimately I did learn the lesson.
Our standards have changed But over the year's times changed and lying seems to be the accepted norm in today's society. The shame is not the actual lying, but in getting caught in the lie. Unfortunately lack of honesty is now considered an insignificant fault in one's character make-up or something to be accepted in a friendship.
So now, if you are a liar and get caught what are the consequences? Well that depends on who you are and what you represent.
If you have a quarrel with that statement, just ask Martha Stewart, the diva of dcor, or Miriam Jones, the now disgraced track and field athlete. On the political scene, we could ask Elliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford or John Edwards. Someday I think you will also be able to ask Barry Bonds, the new home-run king, how it feels to be caught cheating and lying.
One thing for sure, and to their chagrin, if you lie to federal or state agents, you will find yourself being charged in court with lying and you will be sent to jail for at least a short time in your life. Then your remaining life in public will be altered in such a way that it will take its toll both financially and with negative character evaluation.
So for everyone, take heed that to lie or provide false information, the consequences could be severe. That is, of course, unless you are a police officer or public official. Then it is not only accepted, but also approved by law.
In case you didn't know it, police can lie to you so says the United States Supreme Court. They can tell you anything or nothing and there are no repercussions or consequences. As a matter of law, their records are immune to oversight or scrutiny.
If questioned about such matters, they can either hide behind "that matter is still under investigation", or simply deceive by denying access to the facts. Police are even allowed to lie to suspects by making up facts or try convincing a suspect that there are eyewitnesses to collaborate their suspicions.
This of course is misinformation (not "lies") and is not admissible in a court of law, but it can be told to any suspect during any interrogation or when talking to the media. I'm not so sure I disapprove of misinformation when it comes to criminals I may have to think about that but I consider it completely unacceptable when it comes to other situations.
Unfortunately this type of behavior has trickled down into the ranks and has become the standard norm when the police don't want to talk about important matters matters like crime statistics both as reported and solved.
In a recent column, I reported the inaccurate crime statistics as provided by Police Officials. After publishing the column, I was given a complete list of all crimes reported from Jan 1 through July 31st. After a through examination, the list didn't even come close to the actual crimes committed in the community.
Also, if an average citizen has committed a crime, I have found that many police departments post it almost immediately to their Web sites. If it turns out the perpetrator is a law enforcement officer, you have a better chance of meeting the Pope in person than to get any information from their public information officers. It's nothing more than lying by omission.
All bureaucratic entities are suspect, and it requires constant monitoring and questioning to make sure they are telling the truth and not stealing or cheating.
Where's the $900,000?
A case in point comes to mind that has been bothering me since November 7, 2000, when a general election was held in Broward County, Florida. All registered voters were allowed to participate, and one of the issues on the ballot was a referendum for the Safe Parks and Land Preservation Bond Program.
After the election was held, the voters of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, supported the passage of the ballot referendum by a margin of seventy-one percent. I want to remind you that that was almost nine years ago.
The voters in Broward County likewise passed this ballot referendum by a wide margin. One of the reasons the Broward County Commission actively campaigned and wanted this referendum to pass, was to provide funding to acquire additional green spaces in the county and provide funds to upgrade existing facilities.
The city of Pompano Beach was promised according to the written language in the contracts $900,000 to upgrade facilities at the North Broward Park, Pompano Beach Highlands Park, and Sandspur Park.
I am a bit miffed, because as of this date NOTHING has been spent in these parks of that money. The county collected the funds but the city of Pompano Beach hasn't seen a dime.
Recently I heard that the matter had been stalled in the court system. This now seems to be the bureaucracy at its finest. The MWBE filed suit to prevent any contract from being authorized. You ask, "What is MWBE?" Well, that refers to the Minority and Woman's Business Enterprise program.
I have never claimed to be an economist or a financial wizard, but if you had $900,000 in the year 2000 and couldn't spend it until 2009, wouldn't the purchasing power be a great deal less that when it was originally allocated?
If the upgrades had cost $900,000 then, what would they cost now? I also am imagining that the original $900,000 was wisely invested, and drawing interest. I also wonder if any of that interest will inure to the benefit of Pompano Beach. What an imagination I have.
But I jest as I don't think that they will be passing any of that on to the people, if there ever was any interest. And of course, if it hasn't been invested to draw appropriate interest, then why is that person in charge still drawing a paycheck from the County?
I have studied the referendum and the resolutions on this matter and can't figure out if this is just plain incompetence, inexperience or foolishness. Then again, it comes to mind about lying, cheating, and stealing. Who has the $900,000 and why wasn't it spent on the park systems in Pompano Beach? Why has the County government held on to the money for so long until it is in jeopardy and there was a lawsuit to prevent the spending?
Remember, elected city officials knew about this bond issue and the allocation of funds. The city of Pompano Beach passed resolutions (2001-38, 2002-75, and 2005-34) all in support of the referendum and the expenditure of funds.
Don't we deserve better?
Our wonderful local legislators all over this country - they love to pass resolutions, and ordinances, create spot zoning, and excuse their friends and supporters from having to comply with rules and ordinances, and name people to civic boards. They're good at that.
In fact that's about all they do during their meetings. They pass meaningless legislation and it goes into the books. Nobody follows up on what they asked or said, or to see if the resolutions offer any betterment to the citizens. It's on to the next meeting and on to pass more legislation, and make more proclamations.
We deserve better our elected and appointed officials need to ask questions not after the fact, but before the fact. We need accountability and officials who are not so trusting.
On occasion I have been accused of being provocative and stirring up the crap. I proudly plead guilty to those statements.
I wish more people would ask serious questions, and not just the regular party pap or organizational agenda that you see shuffling up to the microphone to gain their five minutes of fame. I'm talking serious questions. And if you ask those questions, you should demand serious answers.
And you ought to be able to get an answer a truthful one.
Until we universally demand that our leaders do not lie, nor cheat, nor steal, we can expect to get nothing more than that which we have not demanded.
JP Bender is a retired award winning investigative reporter with 35 years experience in the profession. He spends his retirement living mostly in the Cayman Islands and often travels around the United States reporting on issues of national interest. His peers claim he does not fully understand the meaning of “retired.”
JP-Very thorough as always! I agree that our society continues to allow some to get away with everything depending on their stature! Thanks for the great research and examples and sharing it with us!
Abigail, I appreciate you communication. I try to remain open minded with our electerd leaders but they are human and are subject to error. The difference with them is they deny everything and pretend that they have special exemptions. JP
Great article, JP. I often wonder about this. When did it become acceptable to lie? If a politician is called out for lying, the whistle-blower is looked at like they've grown a third eye or something. As if "everyone does it" is a plausible excuse!
As a programmer, if any data is bad, then all data is bad. This is how I see politicians too.
Bruce, thanks for your comments. Sometimes I think I woulde rather be called a Times Square pimp than a politician. But then again - is there any difference? JP
Another good article, JP. It is sad that our politicians even have the stereotype you described. But, many do seem to take our trust and run the other way.
Lorrie, thanks for reading the article and for your comments. I don't like to stereotype people or professions but unfortunately when it comes to politicians it is difficult to remain non-judgemental. JP
Ken, thanks for reading the article. I agree if we as citizens abrograted our responsibilities - like ignoring laws, not paying our taxes, not voting, then we would be chastized by the government as being deadbeats. JP
Hi JP , Very well said! It is amazing how some members of society can get away with more than others. I like calling a liar a liar, we need to tell it like it is. Blessings to you! Teresa
Teresa, thank you for taking the time to read the article and commenting on it. We live in strange times and some people believe in situational ethics. I have no use for those people. JP
Yes, we deserve better! And I suspect they weren't Ten Suggestions but you'd never guess that looking around right now. Thanks for speaking up with a much needed piece. Marijo
Thanks Marijo, I apprreciate your comments and I also appreciate you becoming a fan. I never had fans before - just readers who e-mailed me weekly telling me - well I can't say those things in public. JP
Great article, JP. So who is going to set the example of not lying, cheating or stealing? Our politicians have given up on that, our religious leaders have given up too. So who is left?
Thanks for the comments Bruce. As to who will set the example, my crystal ball is not working of this subject. As a reporter, I can only report - not see into the future. While we can't lose hope, we must hold them accountable. JP.
People involved in lying, cheating and stealing are wearing a well-disguised mask of honesty, honor and humility. It's the same all over the globe. Nice information.
I agree. Our elected officials should be accountable for the things that occur while they are in office.
There were some words that seemed to be missing letters out of them. Maybe it's time to get a new keyboard? or replace the batteries if it's a wireless one.
» left by bob from York, ME (62 days 17 hours ago.)
JP, Great reporting! Just to give you a little better view of mankind. They're not all liars and cheats. I'm from York, ME. We did a bond issue for the benefit of The York Library. It was to be used to help pay for a new library building. The total cost of the library was to be $6,000,000, a lot of money for a small town. The bond issue was $1,300,000. It passed and was given to the library immediately. I was the treasurer of the library, what a load off my mind. The town wasn't really happy spending all that money. However, they are glad they did, because the library is now the social and learning center of York. Some times the bureaucrats come through. Not often, but sometimes.
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Bob, thanks for your insight. I will admit that over the years I too have met many bureaucrats that are helpful, efficient and do the right thing. The ones that take their jobs for granted and consider the residents as less than intelligent make a bad name for the rest. Congratulaions on the social and lerning center in York. JP
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