Shouting Fire In A Crowded Theater

There are instances in the United States when falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is illegal. The act of shouting "fire" when there are no reasonable grounds for believing a fire exists is not in itself a crime, however, if it causes a stampede and someone is killed as a result, then the act could amount to a crime, such as involuntary manslaughter, assuming the other elements of that crime are made out; summoning police and fire department or other supporting emergency personnel falsely, for example.

That being the case, shouldn’t politicians who purposely lie to the general populace for their personal political gain or to cause division within the general population of the United States for their personal benefit be held to the same standard as the civilian who falsely yells fire in a crowded theater? Shouldn’t their lies to falsely garner support from constituents, which in theory not only can, but have in fact, caused the loss of life, injury and/or detrimental consequences on numerous lives of United States citizens have consequences?

When a politician knowingly spreads lies to the American electorate, currently it is the responsibility of the citizen to perform their due diligence to research the information for accuracy. But we currently live in an environment in which finding the truth can be as difficult as making water. We all know the recipe for water, H2O, however, who among us can actually produce a glass of H2O without going to an actual water source? Likewise, with so many sources of false information mingling among truths and half truths, shouldn’t it be the responsibility of our politicians to clarify and provide true and accurate information to their constituents?

In decades past, there was a time when the news media was considered to be a reliable source of true and accurate information, but we currently are living the Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times”, and the time period we currently live is far more interesting than any of us would like it to be.

FOX Entertainment News was sued by Dominion over lies they repeatedly told regarding the 2020 election and lost. Alex Jones repeatedly lied about the children of Sandy Hook, was sued and lost. It’s one thing for a public figure or fake news station to lie to the public, but when a politician, a person who will be tasked with representing their constituents lies to the public, creates unnecessary fear and misrepresents their intentions of how they intend to represent their constituents, shouldn’t they be just as culpable as the person who yells “fire” in a crowded theater?

Yet constituents cannot successfully sue politicians for their lies even when their lies result in the loss of our jobs, incomes, benefits, lives of loved ones, poisoning of our families and friends, destruction of our communities and/or nation. It’s our fault for believing the lies of people we select to represent us and fight for our best interests. But is it not true that a politician who lies to their constituents not only robs them of the opportunity to make an informed decision, but also puts their constituents in a position of living under taxation without representation?

If a politician lies about their intent to represent their constituents to get elected when their true intentions are to represent millionaires, billionaires and corporations, if they win, isn’t that taxation without representation? If a politician unjustifiably stokes fear among their constituents to get elected, if they win, isn’t that taxation without representation? If a politician promises to bring jobs to a community to get elected then creates policies that removes or fails to create jobs in their community as promised, isn’t that taxation without representation?

When a constituency votes for a politician who has lied to them, they have a constituency who lives under taxation without representation. How can you represent me, my family, friends and community if you unjustly stoked fear, lied about what you will do for our community and nation, endangered members of our community and/or nation, create division between my neighbors and I?

How is it possible to consider a person who obtains political power through lies, deceit, misinformation and misrepresentation to be any different than the person who yells “fire” in a crowded theater when there actually is no fire or threat of any kind? Isn’t their actions just as dangerous, if not more so, as the person who yells “fire” in a crowded theater?

We are living in interesting times and as a result, it should be the responsibility of those who represent us to provide us with true and accurate information as they seek our support. There is far too much false information that is dividing our nation, communities and even destroying our family relationships and friendships and for the people seeking our support to be part of the false information provided to us, especially knowingly, without any penalties is a disservice to the American people.

As long as the people who claim to want to represent us are allowed to lie to us with no consequences, We The People will live under taxation without representation. We can’t sue them when they lie. We can’t sue them when they allow poisons in our food, air and water. We can’t sue them when they fail to represent us as they said they would. We can’t sue them when they destroy our country, democracy or land. Our only option is to TRY to vote them out of office, but if more people believe the lies than understand the truth about a particular politician, they get re-elected, creating a continuing cycle of taxation without representation.

And while the revolutionary war was fought over taxation without representation, we live in a country that would kill us in the streets if we were to invoke a violent revolution against the politicians who not only lie to us, but also fail to represent us or our best interests. So we will continue to live in interesting times in which the people who claim to represent us, essentially repeatedly yell fire in our crowed theater as they personally enrich themselves and suffer no consequences for their actions.

That not only is un-American, it should be far more illegal than yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, yet somehow it is not.