“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” is a saying often attributed to the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Regardless of who first said it, the concept is a well-used strategy of those seeking power with little regard for truth.

Some practice it with respect to the U.S. 2020 election. Numerous cases have been brought before U.S. courts in an attempt to cast doubt on Joe Biden’s election victory. All have found Biden the legitimate winner over Trump.

Nevertheless, the falsehood continues to spread.

A sister lie also making the rounds is that the attempt to defeat the electoral count on January 6 was merely a demonstration of concerned Americans. That was not the case when huddled legislators hid in terror and those “concerned Americans” shouted for blood in the hallways of Congress.

Our system of government is not a pure democracy, of course. We have leftovers from the founding fathers, some of whom weren’t all that sure about allowing ordinary men (women were denied the vote) to have true power. Nevertheless, most Americans today probably think they believe in rule of the majority.

This expressed belief is threatened in times of great change, when what has been the majority view becomes the minority view. The test comes then: do we really believe in rule of the people when many of the people don’t believe as we do?

Easier, perhaps, to shout “fraud.” Easier to lie and spread falsehoods about stolen votes. After all, we must appear to believe in democracy. Thus, we must lie about stolen votes. The only way we can appear to believe in rule by the people is to lie about how the people voted.

I don’t think the founding fathers saw this one coming.