How about this plan to deal with lying politicians?

Steve Metz, Henderson

Sunday, May 30, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

This past week Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced a proposal in the Senate that would make it a crime — punishable by up to six months in jail — for anyone to make inaccurate or misleading statements about one’s service record.

This was after claims made by the Connecticut attorney general, who is a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, that he served in Vietnam when in fact he never did. I love the premise of this legislation. But I would love to extend it to be more reflective of what the citizens of this nation must put up with daily.

I would love to see a new law that states that any politician, either in office or running for office, who knowingly lies about the opposition or himself, or knowingly lies about his own party’s stand on the issues or makes insinuations, claims or denials not based on absolute fact, would be guilty of a crime punishable by up to six months in jail and never allowed to run for office again.

Every attack on the opposition must be based on fact, and every claim of what the candidate has done in his past would have to be fact-checked. If distortions or lies are found, that person would find himself behind bars. Such a law would clean up Washington in one day.

For instance, the death panel claims, relative to health insurance reform, were never planned. Everyone who said there would be death panels would find themselves in legal jeopardy.

You want to stop partisanship, this is the way to do it. Why should Sen. Hatch’s legislation just be for people who lie about their military service, when the most hideous liars in this country are our politicians. No one would dare lie to the American public again.

One can only dream.