When did we decide it’s OK to lie? I don’t like liars. When I was a kid, my parents threatened us with a mouthful of soap when they thought we were lying. (Not little white lies. I mean intentionally twisting the truth to pervert it for our own purposes.)

I get that many of us today are too busy to examine the facts for themselves and can’t imagine they’re being lied to. Fact checking isn’t as easy as it used to be – because our facts now seem scattered to the wind and riddled with misinformation. And bending them has, for some, become a dark art form.

Jan. 6, 2021, for example, was not a “peaceful march” on our Capitol. That’s a lie, plain and simple. I saw the videos, and I mourned the people who died defending against a violent attack.

The insurrectionists apparently believed the lies Donald Trump fed them, that the election was stolen, and were then incited to violence by him. If only they’d sought out the truth, maybe they wouldn’t have done what they did. Who would praise such violence? Who would give clemency for causing the death of innocents?

So let’s make lying wrong again. Soap won’t work in Donald’s case, but our votes will. Hold him accountable in November.

Virginia Scholomiti
Harpswell