What a difference a couple of generations have made in the GOP. Today we have a party that is completely riddled with lies and liars. The leader of the party is the most prolific dishonest politician in American history and half of the members hang on his every word. The latest shameful episode is where a newly elected GOP congressman has built his entire campaign around a series of lies and the party appears to accept it as standard practice — nothing to be concerned about.

In contrast to that we can go back a couple of political generations and compare the modern party to the GOP of that time where a newly elected congressman from Ogden, Douglas Stringfellow, was caught up in a single lie that caused a national uproar. He was a veteran of WWII and had been grievously wounded and paralyzed in a training accident. He was sent to Bushnell Military hospital in Brigham City and while there the story of how he got wounded transformed to being wounded in battle. He was subsequently elected to congress.

Shortly after that he was exposed (ambushed) as a fraud on national television (“This is your life”). It was a huge national embarrassment for the GOP and he was viciously vilified by the whole party and literally run out of Congress, the party and the state. He lived the rest of his life in shame and obscurity — all over one lie — which in today’s GOP would not even get a raised eyebrow out of most party members.

Tom Owens

Farmington

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