Political figures twisting the truth to fit their personal agendas has always been commonplace; however, usually there is at least a kernel of truth buried beneath the heap of distortion. These misrepresentations are not ideal, but they are expected in any ideological debate such as the presidential campaign.

However, there is a vast difference between distorting the truth and blatantly ignoring it. The current election shows how much U.S. politicians have casually begun to disregarded facts, saying anything that will further promote their ideology.

Addressing the Republican National Convention last month, Representative Paul Ryan vehemently criticized President Obama’s administration. Of the many issues he raised, Ryan criticized Obama personally for the closing of a General Motors plant in his hometown.

The only problem with that criticism is that it actually closed before Obama was even sworn into presidency. Ryan continued by blaming Obama for the U.S.’s credit score downgrade, despite Standard & Poor’s (the organization responsible for the downgrade) statement: “We have changed our assumption on (the rating) because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues.”

Ryan was Chairman of the House budget committee through the downgrade, and his current budget continues to oppose any new taxes. On the other end of the spectrum, Democrats are not immune from the lucrative ease that comes with inventing one’s own reality.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid said Mitt Romney went a decade without paying taxes, and “(Romney’s) poor father must be so embarrassed about his son.” These claims are without any factual basis, and would be more suitable among aggressive YouTube comments or paranoid chain letters than the Senate floor.

However, Romney is not immune to problems that the Democrats experience either. The Obama campaign ran ads saying Romney opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest, despite Romney specifically saying the opposite. These points only represent a small selection of the outright lies spewing from the presidential campaign. These are not policies applicable to debate or studies waiting to be analyzed, these are facts that have only one truth, regardless of political party.

Some individuals backtracked, blaming their lie on misspeaking. Representative Todd Akin, infamous for claiming women cannot become pregnant if they were “legitimately raped”, released a slew of statements saying that he had simply misunderstood what others had told him and misspoken.

If he was truly too ignorant to be held accountable for what he said, he should have never opened his mouth to begin with. However, he has yet to change his stance on abortion, even in cases of rape.

This leaves one of two options available: either Akin knowingly lied on television, hoping to promote his views on an outright ban of abortion, or he is so stupid that he cannot control his speech. Either reason is more than enough to keep him far from Washington.

According to “Speech, Lies, and Apathy” by Jason Stanley, professor at Rutgers University and New York Times columnist, “The expectation is that any statement made either by a politician or by a media outlet is a false ideological distortion. As a result, no one blames politicians for making false statements or statements that obviously contradict that politician’s beliefs.”

Numerous independent organizations, such as PolitiFact or the Washington Post fact checker, point out this glaring difference between political rhetoric and reality, but this seems to have no impact.

These malicious and flagrant falsehoods will continue until voters hold their representatives responsible for their actions and statements. The overwhelming quantity of fallacies has corroded the public’s expectations, allowing politicians to lie with little to no consequences.

It is easy to look at the situation and become politically apathetic or write it off as “what politicians do”, but doing either is only throwing gasoline on the fire. Approach politics with a healthy dose of skepticism, most of what you hear will be a distorted, and it is up to you to twist the rhetoric back into the truth.

We cannot write off political statements just because “that is what politicians do.” We must hold political officials responsible for their actions and statements, as those who intentionally lie to manipulate the public do not deserve a job representing them.