Has the United States Government ever lied in the past?

No, but exaggerated, relatively frequently.

I was here during most of the Vietnam War, and we had to win that war. If we had lost, the whole world would fall to Communism, that appeared to be true at the time.

But it was later revealed most of the Vietnamese didn't even know what Communism was, and their primary concerns were B-52 carpet bombing, snakes, and poor quality food.

I think we have made the same mistake in every war since Vietnam.

If instead of shooting people or burning them with napalm, we might win some people over by actually helping them.

That was the biggest strategic error, and if we had been more transparent during the conflict, the public would have corrected that error.

 

Absolutely. Often and repeatedly.

 

'The US Government' might be too monolithic to nail down as ever actually saying anything at all. Most commonly we get different stories from different agencies and entities within the govt- some of them are truth, others deception, others outright lies. It seems to me more often than not the deceptions are the loudest and what We The People usually end up with. While it might be an oversimplification to say this equates to our government 'lying', I think its safe to say that we rarely end up with the information that we need to make an informed collective decision on how to react properly. ...which is precisely the same result as if 'the government' were just 'lying' to us all the time.

 

It flat out lies with almost every word spoken. If someone in government is defending words or actions of government that have been criticized, you can count on it being a lie. Just yesterday Mayorkas said the border is closed and he has it under control. Straight up flat out lie. It happens all the time. We should stop engaging in foreign wars in defense of other countries. It is none of our business. I realize government needs to make use of the very expensive military it funds but, if we stop defending other countries, we can reduce its size meaningfully. I was involved in defending another country. It was stupidity personified. And it was expensive and dangerous. Further more we failed at defending the country.

 

If politicians lie about what the problem is, or about what they intend to do about it, then you don't know who to vote for.

I don't think Biden would have said, as reported, that Ukraine could cross Putin's final red line, and ask to join NATO, and that the US would support that decision.

That's just crazy, that would get a lot of people killed to no useful end.

If we are for peace we are not going to start wars.

 

That is exactly the situation.

Biden warned that he believed Russia would invade Ukraine. The rest of it is just media spin.

A lot of things get people killed for no useful end. What does that have to do with anything?

Do you have some information that suggests that "we are for peace"? If so, what is it? If not, why do you think that's the goal?

 

We are for peace.

US weapons are intended to be used only for defense, that's why it is called the 'Department of Defense'.

And the budget for war is called 'Defense spending'.

And the industry making the equipment is called the 'Defense Industry'. So they intend to make 'defense'.

But I can't visualize what 'defense' looks like.

 

People in the US are generally not for war, so if the US is a democracy how can the politicians be pro-war?

Here's what a mixed martial arts fighter Bryce Mitchell said:

"I’m not going nowhere to fight none of these wars for these politicians. I’m staying at home and when the war comes to Arkansas, I will dig my boots in the ground and I will die for everything I love and I will not retreat.

“If this country is invaded and everybody’s saying well, ‘we got to evacuate. we got to leave,’ I will not. I will dig my boots in Arkansas soil and I will fight for the people that I love, for the land that I love and the way of life that I love. But I’m not going overseas to fight.”

 

The answer is, of course:

 

Everyone and every government lies but the things many people think are lies the U.S. government told (like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident) were NOT actually lies.

 

Is the Pope Catholic? Will a bear crap in the woods?