We need to make it illegal to lie.
Not a "criminal" crime. Make it a civil crime. Make it so we can sue someone for lying to us.
Make it a very small crime. $50 per offense.
Why? Because it's too small. No court will touch it. Nor should they! If some jerk at the bar lied to you about who won the game, that's not society's problem. We collectively shouldn't spend our resources on courts and judges and lawyers for that.
However. When a president lies to 330,000,000 Americans, that absolutely is society's problem. We collectively SHOULD spend our resources on courts and judges and lawyers for that! When FoxNews dedicates an entire 24 hour news cycle to lying to Americans, it is imperative that society collectively protects ourselves from the damage that has caused and is currently causing.
When I tell people this plan the most common response is to ask "Who will decide what's true?" It is hard for me to understand where this question comes from. I'm not proposing we change that. Answer: The same people who decide that right now. When you sue someone, the judgement returned is often 20 pages of "The court heard A and B and C, and we have determined that D is true." So. That. That's who.
It's not just politicians either. When a manufacturer sells a package that says 64 ozs on it, and you weigh it to find it's only 46 ozs … That manufacturer lied to you. That manufacturer needs to pay for their dishonesty, or else they will just keep doing it. If they don't have to pay monetary damages for that 46 ozs container, then next month they'll print 64 ozs on a container that only weighs 44 ozs. Without consequences we keep getting hurt worse and worse over time.
Critically, the law we eventually write needs to include the phrase "knew or should have known". When FoxNews tells us that vaccines cause autism, that is factually incorrect and they should know that. If they don't know enough about the topic to be right then they shouldn't be broadcasting to millions of viewers.
We need to bring back consequences for lying. This is important.