Listen Up! Is it ever okay to lie? | Commentary

Last week, United States President Joe Biden used his executive power to unconditionally pardon his son Hunter for felony convictions related to tax evasion and gun regulations. President Biden was repeatedly asked, particularly during the recent presidential campaign, if he would pardon his son. He consistently said he would not. Clearly, he lied. 

Consequently, he has been in a great deal of caca in recent days, primarily from his opponents but also from some of his supporters. His integrity has been questioned and his legacy as he leaves office after a lifetime of public service has also been compromised. The question then is, did Joe Biden do the right thing? 

Let’s examine that. 

Many aspects of Joe Biden’s life were tragic. His first wife and two children were killed in a traffic accident. His son Beau, a decorated veteran, died of brain cancer. Hunter Biden, his only remaining son, is a recovering drug addict, during which time he broke the law. 

President Biden believed that his son would not have been prosecuted were his last name not Biden. Whether or not that is true, the reality is that his son became a convicted felon. In my view, there was never a moment under these circumstances that Biden did not know he would pardon his son. 

So why did he lie?

First of all, over the past year, there has been a viciously fought presidential campaign. I have been in enough political campaigns, tiny in comparison as that they may be, to know that election campaigns are totally controlled by the “War Room,” those with the ultimate responsibility of running and winning the campaign.

Those folks would have made it crystal clear to the President that any mention of pardoning his son had the potential of sending their campaign into a tailspin even greater than what eventually occurred.  

Second, Joe Biden had every reason to believe that Donald Trump, as President, would further pursue his son. Members of his proposed incoming cabinet have made no secret that revenge against Trump’s perceived enemies is very much on the table and Trump himself has been very clear that revenge is on his agenda. 

Third, President Biden would be more than aware that the nature of Trump’s Cabinet nominations is such that loyalty to him (Trump), in most cases, could be greater than their loyalty to the American Constitution or, indeed, where necessary, the rule of law. The hard and frightening facts are that the MAGA movement has very close to total control over the four branches of governance in the United States, those being the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. That allows the incoming President and his cohorts to do almost anything they want to. 

One political sage wrote online that “the people most outraged about a father pardoning his son for crimes committed during his addiction are the same ones who voted for a felon who also pardoned his own family member (his son-in-law’s father) and then made him an ambassador.” There is some truth in that. 

Under all of these circumstances, Biden was between a rock and a hard place. A classic example of being damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. 

I asked myself what I would do if I found myself in the same position as Joe Biden and without hesitation, I would do what he did, deny my intentions until the political aspects were dealt with and ultimately pardon my son. Wouldn’t you?

I do not agree with much of Biden’s political philosophy. However, I agree with former presidential candidate and soon-to-be former Republican Senator Mitt Romney when he described Joe Biden as an honourable and decent man. I also believe that if there was a time for Biden to avoid the truth, this was it.

So, maybe there are times when it is okay to lie.

 Those would be exceptions, however, and not the norm. Habitual lying, more kindly referred to in this day and age as disinformation, is, sadly, on the rise and should not be tolerated.

 When it comes to lying, Donald Trump himself is the master of disinformation and lying, and he and his MAGA team should be the last ones to call it out in others. Trump has made an art of it. He has even declared that if you tell the same lie three times, people will believe it. It seems to have worked for him, and that is frightening.

 It remains to be seen if his next administration will be based on truth and transparency or lying, revenge, and deceit. Given the possibility that it may be the latter and that concerns have been raised at high levels concerning the possibility of witch hunts, one should not be surprised that President Biden is mulling the possibility of preemptive pardons for some of Donald Trump’s perceived enemies, such as Special Counsel Jack Smith and Republican Liz Cheney.  It would be unprecedented but perhaps necessary under current circumstances. Personally, I hope we see a load of them.

In summary, I believe that sometimes it is okay to lie. It should never happen, though, to hurt others, but perhaps it can be necessary to protect those we care for. My late father once told me that most people lie from time to time, but the important thing is never to lie to oneself.

I confess I didn’t always follow that, but it was good advice.

Hugh Mackenzie

Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.

Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.

In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.

Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.

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