“Truth is treason in the empire of lies”

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies” was written by Ron Paul, a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, in his book, The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008). The saying quickly appeared on T-shirts.
 
Paul perhaps borrowed from an older saying, often attributed to George Orwell—“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” A related 2021 saying by Herbert Hildebrandt is “In a world of propaganda, the truth is always a conspiracy.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American medical doctor, author, Republican U.S. Congressman of the House of Representatives and candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination. Paul is currently the U.S. Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas, which comprises the area south and southwest of the Greater Houston region, including Galveston. Paul serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Joint Economic Committee, and the House Committee on Financial Services, and is Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, where he has been an outspoken critic of current American foreign and monetary policy.
 
Google Books
The Revolution:
A Manifesto

By Ron Paul
New York, NY: Grand Central Pub.
2008
Pg. ? (Preface):
This is the deadening consensus that crosses party lines, that dominates our major media, and that is strangling the liberty and prosperity that were once the birthright of Americans. Dissenters who tell their fellow citizens what is really going on are subject to smear campaigns that, like clockwork, are aimed at the political heretic. Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
 
LewRockwell.com
February 1, 2008
Ron Paul’s Revolutionary Manifesto
by Floy Lilley
(...)
Ron Paul has written The Revolution: A Manifesto, to be released by Grand Central Publishing.
(...)
The preface to the book is already online, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing (which is not connected to the Book Bomb).
(...)
This is the deadening consensus that crosses party lines, that dominates our major media, and that is strangling the liberty and prosperity that were once the birthright of Americans. Dissenters who tell their fellow citizens what is really going on are subject to smear campaigns that, like clockwork, are aimed at the political heretic. Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
 
Flathead Beacon (Kalispell, MT)
Army of supporters descends on nearby Blaine, Minn.
Ron Paul Nation: the Other Convention in Town

By Ariel Sabar, The Christian Science Monitor, 09-02-08
(...)
At the concert on a soccer field in Blaine Monday night, bikers in leather vests mingled with boys in tie-dye shirts, men in bowties, and women pushing strollers. T-shirts bore messages ranging from “Politicians Love Disarmed Peasants” and “Gold is Money” to “End the Fed” and “Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies.”