Lying Media, Lying People

Tonight, I was at the Battle Born Republican Women event. Heidi Harris spoke. She talked about a lot of things, but what resonated with me is how the media (and people), just outright lie or shade the truth nowadays. It seems like they are doing it more than they used to.

I notice it in politics.

The effort to pass Voter ID in Congress is one example. Democrats are simply lying about voter identification. Almost 80% of America no matter what their party, what ethnicity they are, or even their sexual orientation, want it.

Why?

Because neither side trusts the other one, and Voter ID gives a modicum of trust in elections. In Nevada, we have question 7 on the ballot. Please show up and vote! It’s important. I know it is an off-year election, but passing it again will put it in the Nevada Constitution, and we won’t have to worry about Washington DC.

I see people being disingenuous on the stump and on social media. Candidates are just being shady or outright lying.

Tonight, the other candidates at the forum were genuine. No malarky. I think everyone appreciated that.

When I gave my little two-minute talk, I mentioned that every piece of data could be verified on the internet independently. It wasn’t astroturf created by me. I didn’t create a Wikipedia page and then footnote it with things I wrote. I came from a place where your word was your bond. At both the CME and CBOT, that ethos permeated the business. We traded billions of dollars back and forth on a hand signal and a nod.

One of the most fun things about this campaign is calling old friends and people from my network. I love hearing about their lives and what they have been up to. I like hearing about their kids, sometimes their grandkids, and what they are doing. When I chat with old traders on the floor, we laugh a lot. One of the funniest things we laugh about is how neophytes look at the past and try to make stuff up. It’s abundantly clear they have no idea about the business.

One old trader and I were laughing about the time we both had a bad day. The spreads we had didn’t go our way. He said, “We lost millions, but at least we made many more millions.”

I think when you are running for office, you ought to be straight with voters. Don‘t try to be something you aren’t. Especially for a State Treasurer’s position. Why put a person in that job who shades the truth all the time, or just outright lies?