Back in 1972, the October Surprise was officially introduced to politics in the United States when Henry Kissinger announced, “We believe peace is at hand,” just twelve days before Election Day.  That well-timed proclamation about the end of the Vietnam War solidified Richard Nixon’s victory over George McGovern.

Future surprises would include the implication of Ronald Reagan’s former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in the ’92 Bush vs. Clinton race, the late breaking news of George W. Bush’s drunk driving arrest before the ’00 Bush vs. Gore race and the release of Mitt Romney’s infamous 47% of Americans remarks (technically a September surprise) and are all examples of the political strategy now fully expected by the electorate and punditry.

Something at least as damaging as the October Surprise has also taken root in today’s politics.  Over the last several cycles, a fair amount of information has been under-reported by mainstream media outlets or deliberately withheld by candidates from the voters. 

During the 2008 election, the Obama campaign website did not include standard credit card authentication, including the requirement of three or four digit security codes on debit and credit cards.  This is very significant, because it invited foreign contributions by making it impossible to determine the origins of online donations.  Information about the Obama family’s controversial and anti-Semitic pastor largely was ignored by all media, except for Fox News and conservative talk radio.  Election Day in ’08 included voter intimidation in Pennsylvania.  As detailed in The Washington Times, members of the Black Panther party stood outside a polling location brandishing batons and wearing militant garb.  This incident was also largely ignored and never prosecuted by the incoming administration.

After a dramatic Republican victory in the 2010 mid-term elections, fueled by the emergence of the Tea Party, President Obama’s reelection seemed somewhat in jeopardy.  What was unknown during the 2012 race was that the IRS had been weaponized against conservative advocacy groups.  As confirmed by Judicial Watch in their release of 274 pages of new FBI “302” documents, “Senior IRS officials knew that agents were targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny as early as 2011.”

The 2012 race also included the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.  In order to support the narrative that terrorism was being contained and defeated by the current administration, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the State Department and President Obama insisted the attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, was an escalated protest against an anti-Muslim YouTube video.  The Gaurdian describes how GOP challenger Mitt Romney tactfully criticized the President for refusing to admit the attack was terrorism, Candy Crowley, the CNN debate moderator, infamously threw the President a lifeline by agreeing with his false claim.

The mismanagement and ensuing cover-up of the Benghazi attack carried over into this 2016 cycle.  There are still many unanswered questions, which make Hillary Clinton’s decision to use a private server and delete tens of thousands of e-mails the subject of multiple federal investigations.  Through information released by WikiLeaks, Hillary’s campaign tactics in the primary versus Sen. Bernie Sanders, access to a sitting Secretary of State through the Clinton Foundation and foreign investment into her campaign have all been brought to light after she secured the nomination.

Hoping old skeletons are properly buried is nothing new to politics and deliberately hiding information or misleading voters is not just a game played by Democrats.  To be sure, with seventeen Republicans vying for the nomination in 2016, there were plenty of facts distorted, truths stretched and omissions.  Near the homestretch of the Republican Primary, absurdity was reached when the eventual nominee Donald Trump baselessly accused Sen. Ted Cruz of extramarital affairs and the Senator’s father Pastor Rafael Cruz of being involved with the JFK assassination, citing the National Enquirer for the latter.  

As the GOP nominee, Donald Trump has stubbornly refused to release his actual tax returns.  He is in the midst of a fraud case against Trump University, scheduled for trial November 28, 2016, summarized in a Bloomberg article and his Trump Foundation is being investigated for improprieties such as spending foundation money on himself and for settling lawsuits.  In addition, the FBI will be looking into Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort’s former ties to Russia. 

Perhaps our politics have just become so polarized or the two major party candidates are so disliked and untrusted, but it sure seems like we are in the midst of a race to the bottom.  We have gone way beyond the usual misrepresentations and over the top character assassinations in debates and campaign ads to a more brazen form of lying right into the electorate’s face.  Why tell the truth, when you can say what you think they want to hear and put the hones on the voter to fact check it? Are we placing an ever-diminishing value on truth as a society?  For the first time in my lifetime we have two candidates racing the clock to reach Election Day before the next damaging bit of evidence, instead of trying to convince voters why their policies will improve their lives and strengthen our nation.

Unlike the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., made popular by the movie Catch Me If You Can, about a young man hoaxing his way into a lifestyle far beyond his means, our elections lack the charm or romanticism of a disadvantaged person conning his way up the economic ladder.  The people that wind up vying for our votes come Election Day are typically very wealthy and powerful often financially backed by billionaires or big money from trade organizations.

If voters keep neglecting their responsibility to check candidates’ records, cynically rejecting any expectation of truth from nominees and persist in making idols of their political parties, we will continue to get the leaders we deserve rather than the ones we so desperately need.  Each time that happens will result in deceiving ourselves a bit more that we are as strong and free as we were in the past.

About the author:  Ringo Lanzetti is a small business owner.  As a strong believer in traditional American values, he focuses on defending economic and religious liberties to preserve the American Dream. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.