OPINION: Logical Fallacy: Silence is an Endorsement

John Delaney is the 3rd richest member of Congress – and he’s using a logical fallacy to attack Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

Mr. Delaney, a multimillionaire, paid a truck to circle Maryland’s State House with an attached billboard that blasts popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan for failing to speak out enough against the eventual Republican presidential, Donald J. Trump.  

See below.

Logical fallacies rum amok

Delaney paid a truck to circle the State House, blasting popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

For weeks now, Maryland Democrats have decided that the best way to attack Hogan is the made-up “transitive property of endorsements.”

You’ll remember that Hogan endorsed New Jersey Republican Governor Christie.

Months later, Christie endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Therefore and by extension, Hogan, like Christie, endorsed Trump. 

No. 

Of course, a logical person realizes that a governor with a 70% approval rating will not care much about such a ridiculous attack.

Now that you have the back story let’s get to the glaring and obvious logical fallacy that Delaney and Maryland Democrats have fallen into.

Put another way: 

“SILENCE MEANS THAT YOU SUPPORT AND CONSENT TO THE ACTION WHICH IS OCCURRING OR ABOUT TO OCCUR”

Do you see where this is going?

Let’s apply the same rationale to similar circumstances.

• Someone broke into my home while I was at work and stole my TV. When Brunswick Police Chief Fretch visited my home to take my statement, he said, “Well did you tell the person they could not steal your property? Silence is an endorsement.”
• While I was on vacation, a drunk driver crashed their vehicle into my kitchen. When the insurance agent came to investigate the claim, they said, “Well, did you tell the driver they could not drive into your kitchen? Silence is an endorsement.”
• Somewhere in some river in some town, a company pumped raw sewage into the river. That sewage ended up in my drinking water. When I asked my legislators to pass a law to prevent raw sewage dumping into my water, they said, “Did you tell the company not to pump raw sewage into the river? Silence is an endorsement.”
• Someone was a little tipsy and did not say anything when that handsome/pretty man/woman started getting frisky. They did not say anything; therefore, they endorsed the frisky behavior. When they reported the sexual assault, the police told them, “Silence is an Endorsement.”

This line of attack tells the average Marylander two things:

1. You have no legitimate criticism of Governor Hogan;
2. You are desperate.

Now let’s get back to the real issues.

Eric Beasley is Deputy Editor of A Miner Detail. He can be reached at Eric@AMinerDetail.com.