Posted August 2, 2018, as a supplement to what was then a forthcoming Truthdig essay in which I examined U.S. President Donald Trump’s epic and pathological lying and misstatements against the backdrop, and in the context of, past U.S. presidential deception and the broader panoply of false narratives that have long been ubiquitous in U.S. political, media, and intellectual culture.

* This list has subsequently grown to One Hundred and Thirty Five (135) Great United States Lies.

  1. We Live in a Democracy.
  2. Capitalism is About Democracy.
  3. Capitalism is About the Free Market.
  4. Big Business and its Political Agents are Freedom-Loving Libertarians Who Hate “Big Government.”
  5. The United States is a Great Land of Liberty.
  6. The United States is a Great Monument to Classlessness.
  7. Hard work and individual brilliance is the key to individual wealth and the lack of such work and brains is the source of individual poverty.
  8. Growth is Good.
  9. We Have an “Independent” and “Mainstream” Media.
  10. The U.S. is a Force for Good and Peace in the World
  11. Buying Stuff Makes People Happy.
  12. We Get Meaningful Input on Policy Through Voting.
  13. There is No Alternative to Neoliberalism/Capitalism and Underlying Social Structures are Beyond Our Sphere of Influence.
  14. The Police Serve and Protect Us.
  15. U.S. Troops Have “Died for Our Freedom.”
  16. “They Hate Us for Our Freedom;”
  17. Socialism is an Authoritarian and Even Totalitarian Nightmare.
  18. The Soviet Union and Empire was Marxist Socialism and Communism in Action.
  19. Blacks Have Achieved Parity with Whites
  20. Racism is No Longer a Serious Barrier to Black Advancement and Equality
  21. Immigration is Bad for America.
  22. The United States’ Latest Designated Global Bad Guy is a New “Hitler.”
  23. Recurrent “Weapons of Mass Destruction” Deceptions.
  24. Our Greatest Enemies are External to the U.S.
  25. The Rich are Heavily Taxed.
  26. Environmentalism is a Job-Killer
  27. Social Welfare and Economic Regulation Stultify Economies.
  28. Deficits Must be Slashed.
  29. We Have an Independent Judiciary.
  30. The Two Reigning U.S. Political Parties Adequately Capture the Spectrum of U.S. Public Opinion.
  31. Contemporary Oligarchy and Plutocracy is Contrary to the Democratic Intent and Spirit of the U.S. Founders and Their U.S. Constitution
  32. The “Intelligence Community” Protects We the People.
  33. Soviet Russia Was the Main Aggressor in the Cold War and Putin’s Russia is the Main Aggressor in Cold War II.
  34. Only Paid Labor Deserves to be Called Work.
  35. Doing Paid Work Makes People More Stable and Virtuous.
  36. American Entertainment Media is Just About Entertainment.
  37. There’s a War on Drugs.
  38. The So-Called War on Drugs is About Drugs.
  39. Increased Wealth for the Few Trickles Down to the Rest.
  40. The U.S. Has Done Nothing to Cause Immigrant Flight to the U.S. and Owes Nothing to Central American Migrants on its Southern Border.
  41. Two-Plus Centuries of Arch-Racist Hyper-Exploitative Black Chattel Slavery Hold No Relevance to Contemporary Black American Experience and U.S. Racial Disparity.
  42. White America Owes Blacks Nothing in the Way of Reparations for Slavery – or for the Jim Crow Era or Mass Ghettoization or Racist Mass Incarceration and Felony Marking or for Any Other of the Multiple Forms of Institutional and Societal Racism That Persist in U.S. Life.
  43. The Racist Terror and Apartheid State of Israel Deserves Our Respect and Support.
  44. We Can Have a Decent, Just, and Democratic Society While Dedicating Vast Portions of Government Expenditure to the Maintenance of a Giant Military State and Global Empire.
  45. Our Relevant Reference Group of Belonging is “Fellow U.S. Americans,” not “Fellow Human Beings,” and not “Fellow Sentient Beings.”
  46. Nature is a Great Windfall for Us to Subdue and Exploit
  47. Human Nature is Egoistic, Competitive, Individualistic, and Selfish.
  48. Concern for Others, Social Justice, and Livable Ecology is Dysfunctional, “Radical,” and Unnatural.
  49. Everyone Else in the World Wants to Live Like U.S.-Americans.
  50. Human Beings are Superior to Other Animals and Life Forms.