STEPHEN WOODWORTH: I’d be busy arresting and jailing people all day long if it was made illegal to lie for political purposes!
Here’s a reply I composed to someone who proposes putting politicians in jail when they do things he doesn’t approve of: I don’t know where you live but in my country, Canada, my political opponents do many of the things you describe or that I consider to be unjust, uncharitable, or deceitful. Because defending my country’s democratic way of life is so very important, I’m going to describe it to you in greater detail than we usually do on FaceBook. Except for corruption, fraud and theft in my country all the other things you describe are not prohibited by law. Also, my political opponents are supported by, and include, about 30% of the population who agree with their policies on the issues you mention. We would have to build a lot more jails to hold them if we criminalized their political choices. In my country if I wanted to make their objectionable conduct subject to jailing, I would first have to pass a law prohibiting it. We have what is called “rule of law,” by w...