President Reagan had it right when he said:

“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.”

A few days ago, I was having a conversation with a new friend. Somehow, we got on to the subject of politics. I believe it started with a discussion about Obama’s executive order pertaining to the children of illegal immigrants. I said I believed that Obama should have gone through the proper channels of Congress instead of issuing an executive order. She immediately defended Obama, saying, “But the Republicans won’t let anything he wants to pass through, they won’t work with him.” I wanted to point out that Obama had not even tried to work with Congress, and John Boehner had attempted to work with him on a budget deal, but the president would not even consider it. I decided just to listen for a while. Somehow, she got on the subject of education. Her opinion was that we should stop and decrease spending on defense and increase education spending. Quite a few thoughts rushed through my mind at this point. First, throwing money at a problem has never worked. Second, she did not know she was speaking with someone who came from a family in which every eligible man had served in the military. One of whom is currently deployed to Afghanistan. However, I said none of this. I replied, “I think we need to send education back to the states.” I went on to say that communities should have control of matters like education. “Besides, I said, “Who cares more about your child, you or a bureaucrat in Washington?” She didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell if she agreed or not. She repeated that we should spend more money on education. I let the subject drop since I did not want to argue. Later, we ended up talking about Planned Parenthood. I stated I believed that they should not receive government funding. “Why not?” she wanted to know. I explained my position on abortion, and that I felt the government should not fund abortion. “Oh, no!” she said, “The money Planned Parenthood receives from the government is not used to fund abortions.” Gently, I tried to explain that the money Planned Parenthood receives is not allocated for specific services. “No! she said firmly, I heard on NPR that the money they receive is not used for abortions.” I smiled to myself and thought, “NPR, that must be where she get her views on education and defense.” She went on to say that abortion was only a MINOR part of the services Planned Parenthood offers, without Planned Parenthood, underprivileged women could not get necessary health screenings and services. Once again, I tried to present the facts, but to no avail. In the end, I asked her to check out Live Action’s website. I hope that she will be curious enough to investigate.

What struck me most was that she knew all about the latest political issues. She was not uninformed, she was misinformed. Furthermore, she was using NPR as her sole source of information and opinion. I believe we would be better off if more people paid attention to current events. However, the amount of false information being proliferated concerns me, and the fact that most people blindly believe what they hear from “reputable sources” without checking the facts for themselves.

Of course, this begs the question, how do we combat misinformation? Websites like redstate.com, liveaction.org, and other alternative news sources are a great place to start, but we must be ever vigilant to encourage our friends to check the facts and be informed, not misinformed. It comes down to us, in our everyday lives taking the time to combat the deliberate lies of the Left. If each one of us points someone to the truth, and that person passes it on, imagine the impact!!

I will end with one of my favorite quotes:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.