Are they liars? Or is it more a combination of wishful thinking and little or no connection to reality?

I'm talking about what we always so politely (and incorrectly) call "conservative" when they conserve nothing but the right to be pissed off. They quote the constitution, or at least quote things they think are clever, and CLAIM it's from the constitution. They are right-wing fanatics, theocrats obsessed with turning the USA into a fascistic country in which (the definition of fascism being "A merger between government and corporations") they add religion to the mix to come out with something like the Christian version of the Taliban.


What set me off on this is a bumper sticker using an imaginary quote from Benjamin Franklin:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

To put it politely:

A SACK OF TOTALLY FABRICATED BULLSHIT.

Here are some facts:

Widely attributed to Franklin on the internet, sometimes without the second sentence. It is not found in any of his known writings, and the word "lunch" is not known to have appeared anywhere in english literature until the 1820s, decades after his death. The phrasing itself has a very modern tone and the second sentence especially might not even be as old as the internet...

The quote never appeared anywhere before 1990.

Get it? The word: LUNCH didn't even exist until years after Franklin's death.

(This site also has other fabricated self-serving imaginary Franklinisms.)

Generally, the problem with these "Ben Franklin said" lies (or "Thomas Jefferson said," or, to paraphrase Tom Paine in Common Sense, "God said") is that they give themselves away the same way as art forgeries, only more blatantly, as the ignorance of the sayers seems to indicate they know little or absolutely nothing about the person (except he was famous and reportedly wise) -- in art forgery it would be like painting Julius Caesar wearing a wristwatch.

In other words, they're fucking stupid and have put together a political coalition of similar know-nothing sheep.

But, if these people want to be like the founding fathers, so be it. Of course, that means they should enjoy both the winners' prize and the loser's penalty of those brave men and women, i.e., if Washington and Franklin and Jefferson and Adams, et al had lost, they would have been hanged for treason.

Thus far, they seem to have only committed SEDITION:

sedition, crime against the state. Though sedition may have the same ultimate effect as treason, it is generally limited to the offense of organizing or encouraging opposition to government in a manner (such as in speech or writing) that falls short of the more dangerous offenses constituting treason.

Sedition:

1. Speech or behaviour directed against the peace of a state

2. (Law) an offence that tends to undermine the authority of a state

3. (Law) an incitement to public disorder

Also punishable by law:

US Code Title 18
§2384. Seditious conspiracy

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, §1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 18 , U.S.C., 1940 ed., §6 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §6, 35 Stat. 1089).

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $20,000”.

1956—Act July 24, 1956, substituted “$20,000” for “$5,000”, and “twenty years” for “six years”.

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