Ronald Reagan vs. Government Disinformation

With Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his disclosures of the degree to which the White House, departments and agencies, along with senators and representatives, interfered with, moderate the content of, or censored and killed social media stories, most Americans now realize the federal government has been lying to them for months and even years. It lied about Trump, about the Bidens, about COVID-19, and much, much more. Unfortunately, as Ronald Reagan knew, federal government lying goes back nearly a century.

Of course, Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” “A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” and “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” With such a realistic, some might say cynical, view of government, it is not surprising that Reagan recognized the government lied to the American people. Of particular concern to Reagan were the lies the government spread about oil and gas resources. In July 1977, radio address, Reagan documented decades of lies about America’s energy future: