I didn’t know how it was decided before the internet was used as a dictionary but Merriam Webster Company has declared Gaslighting to be the word of the year. It isn’t one of those fancy made-up words that will be forgotten in a few years.  Gaslighting has been around for decades, maybe even a century.

            Merriam Webster Dictionary defines Gaslighting as “The act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” The meaning I grew up with is somebody who can con a person for a long period of time like P. T. Barnum. Bernie Madoff or Charles Ponzi would be financial gaslighters. There have been many political gaslighters going all the way back to our founding fathers.

            A con artist, grifter, or gas lighter usually needs some kind of distraction to keep the victims from catching on to the scam.

            One definition of a con artist is “a person who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true.” Gaslighting is the way a con artist deceives people. Today we have a person with other persons of influence conning millions of people into thinking things that are obviously false but still believe it. Historically the con artist’s goal has been money but today it is power and ego which are often the same.

            Do we know anyone or group that employs Gaslighting and conning people into believing things that is not true just to satisfy their egos need for power?

        After John McCain lost his bid to be President he said he went to Washington to change it and it changed him. I signed the petition for his first run but not in his second. The second made him the Republican nominee. The difference for me was he was himself in his first try but he changed his values and stances to get right wing support in the primary. After the loss McCain went back to his former self. He stayed that way until his death. The question is would he have reverted if he had won?

            Seldom does the voter know how the sausage was made. My Brother-In-Law was a Republican who had not been involved in politics when he answered a knock at the door. It was the leaders of both parties. They both offered their parties’ support if he would run to defeat the incumbent. He served three terms as an Illinois State Representative and one term as Senator. He learned how the sausage was made and despised it.

            We were visiting him at his desk one day when the party runner handed him a sheet on how he should vote for four bills that day. He hadn’t had any time to read the bills much less to decide how to vote on them. When I asked why he should vote that way he said in order to get road builders support at his golf tournaments he had to do as he was told by the party leader., Without that money he wouldn’t get re-elected and help his district. He enjoyed helping people but he often had to go against his beliefs.

            Illinois had a Senator who won handily but didn’t run again because he didn’t like how Washington made sausage. Thousands of newly elected people are about to find out how sausage is made at school board meetings to the Senate meetings.

        A black hole is an astronomical body where gravity is so great not even light can escape. It draws in planets, suns, and solar systems within its gravitational reach. There is a point in the spinning around the hole where a body can escape and can’t escape. It is called the event horizon. Once a body is past that point the gravity becomes too strong and the body is pulled into the compacted mass in the center.

            We may have a black hole here in the United States. We have a person here who is at the center of several investigations from his own activities and the activities of cohorts who have acted for him. Many others have given public support for him and therefore tied themselves to his orbit.

            Those who have gotten themselves deeply involved have passed through the event horizon and face legal challenges. Their only way to break free of the gravity is to plea bargain for a lesser sentence. The supporters are at or near the event. Some will figure out a way to get away from the gravity while others will fall into the black hole. The event horizon is near for a lot of elected people and many in the broadcast media and internet. Many have seen the danger and are backing away while others hope for the black hole to become a supernova spreading greatness to them.