The Lie's The Thing

It is far easier to be honest with ourselves regarding the state of things, than for others to be honest to us about these same things. Expediency and politics often overwhelms reason and logic in public discourse, and we are led to believe one thing, a thing that is far removed from the truth of the matter. Far too many of us have given up challenging what we hear, content to believe that those who speak to us do so in earnest and without prevarication, which in our hearts we know not to be true. Seldom is the public speaker telling the whole story, for enlightenment would lead to questions, and questions would lead to inquiries, and inquiries would lead to a lack of answers or worse, an ever-complicated fabric of lies which would fray at the slightest pull.

Fact Versus Fiction

It is intolerable to think that a great section of Americans are being led around by the nose, pumped full of prevarications and obfuscations, then let go to roam the streets, parroting back these talking points without having fully considered what they are saying. True, we are each responsible for how we determine what we believe and how we verify those things we consider "facts," but it is insidious and immoral, in my opinion, to go about spreading deception and half-truths, cloaking them in fiery rhetoric, and attacking anyone who does automatically swallow them whole. It seems that certain forces are at work, shaping and molding the opinions of those who choose not to think for themselves, while simultaneously waging war against anyone who shows any reticence toward the "truth" as they see it.

The examples are there every day:

- President Obama is just like Hitler: Since the countryside is not dotted with concentration camps, jackbooted minions are not prowling the streets in search of people to intimidate or arrest, six million citizens have not been incinerated in the most ghastly manner, and no small and otherwise helpless countries have been invaded since he took office, this one is easy enough to dismiss as hyperbole.

- They are building a mosque at Ground Zero: I'm pretty sure that this is being perpetuated by the media, which seems to use the word "mosque" too often in describing the proposed Islamic community center to be built two blocks from Ground Zero. The supposed "slap in the face" this represents is probably more like a tickle, compared to the iron fist in a velvet glove of greedy industrialists and real estate developers who can't wait to park a new office building on top of "hallowed ground."

- Health care reform will include the ability to kill old people: Yes, the highly touted "death panels," which, as it turns out, did not exist, the language being nowhere in the bill. How easily funding palliative care and doctor's visits for end-of-life planning are turned into the knock on the door and the elderly being herded into vans to be disposed of in the dark of night.

- Extending the Bush tax cuts will help the economy: Far be it from me to point out that during the reign of the Bush tax cuts is precisely when the economic decline began to happen. Perhaps putting more money in the pockets of the already wealthy had the opposite effect than what was intended? Reaganomics did not work in the 80's, and it certainly isn't going to start working miraculously in the 21st Century.

- People using unemployment compensation aren't out looking for jobs; they are just lazy: Oh yes, this makes perfect sense. They were so lazy, working 60 hours a week for 40 hour a week pay, that the companies that were looking to extend their bottom line and pump up their profit margins had no choice but to lay them off, even as they shipped some of their jobs overseas and eliminated others, heaping the work on the few who remained. It's called "productivity."

- President Obama and his cronies are Socialists: Well, to a degree, that's true, just as much as the rest of us are. We share police and fire services that everyone pays for, have local governments to run things, that we all pay for, have Social Security and Medicare to support us in our retirement, which we all pay for, and we have schools to educate all the children, which we all pay for. The fact that we are called the United States of America, may, in fact, have something to do with having created our own, mutually interdependent society.

- The Federal Government is too large: How large is too large? Give me some numbers. What's that? You don't have any numbers? You just know that government is too big? Next.

- Taxes are too high and the budget deficits are too large: Try living in Europe, if you'd like to see what high taxes look like. Yes, a large chunk of what we make goes to pay the government. Well, they're responsible for protecting us and making sure the freedom and liberty of all Americans is constantly maintained. That costs money. Do they always spend our money wisely? No, but then try blaming the people who cause the problem: the elected officials you put into Congress and the White House. Those deficits didn't come around overnight, and they certainly didn't show up during only one administration. Of course, if we all did without a lot of basic services the government provides, I'm sure they could have it paid off in no time.

- The Constitution is under attack: As far as I can determine, there are no new Amendments to the Constitution currently in the pipeline. The Supreme Court is still looking out for the land -- though imperfectly at times. Freedom of speech. Yup, still available. Freedom of worship? No churches have been shut down yet. Able to carry a gun? Haven't noted any wholesale roundup of weapons to be melted down. Miranda rights? Still got 'em. Can't be forced to incriminate myself? Nope. Where, exactly, is this attack taking place?

It's far easier for people to accept statements laced with fear, than coolly delivered facts. America, it seems, is filled with Chicken Littles, fairly certain that the sky is falling, even though none of them have looked up. They are simply listening to a continuous stream of fear-mongering, panic-inducing rhetoric, which they have allowed themselves to substitute for good judgment. As they race like lemmings to the sea (a metaphor based on fiction, not fact), they cannot be dissuaded by reason. They are so certain that these maunderings are the God's honest truth, that they will not stop long enough to take a cold, hard look at them.

It is important that those of us who see that the Emperor has no clothes continue to speak up, for until the chorus of our voices is loud enough to drown out the ridiculous and absurd, we are still vulnerable to having our freedoms yanked right out from under us. It's time we started paying attention to the man behind the curtain.

The Third Law Of Political Motion

For every action, there is an equal, but opposite, overreaction.

You may have heard, that a USDA official, Shirley Sherrod, gave a talk at an NAACP luncheon, in which she related a parable about how, in the 1980's, she was working for an agency trying to help black farmers, when a white farmer came to her, seeking badly-needed help. It was part of a larger talk on how she was required by this encounter, to throw out preconceived notions of race, and come to realize that all farmers were hurting, just not black farmers. The 45-minute talk was a window into how preconceived notions of black and white and all race were barriers that needed to be dismantled if people were to get the help they deserved. This was back in March.

Flash forward to July, and Andrew Breitbart, conservative gadfly, excerpted the portion of the speech about the white farmer, and Ms. Sherrod's remarks to the effect that she "didn't help him enough," and then proceeded to use the decontextualized video as a means to batter the Obama Administration on its race relations and raise the specter of "reverse discrimination." This was in response to NAACP accusations regarding certain members of the Tea Party and their racist views, questioning why the party had not repudiated these elements. The whole thing was wrapped up in a neat package, fired off on Mr. Breitbart's various blogs, repeated by Fox News, and held up as a sign that the Obama Administration was in the habit of hiring people who would discriminate against whites, as a form of revenge for the egregious excesses of slavery.

The overreaction was swift. Ms. Sherrod was asked to resign (by whom is still a subject of debate, as no one seems to want to claim the honor), and the NAACP condemned her. Mind you, this was before anyone decided to review the full contents of the speech on the video tape, a video tape conveniently owned by the NAACP.

When the tape was finally reviewed, the picture became much clearer, as it often does when the light of day is shone into the dark corners of society. It turns out that rather than confirming her "reverse racism," the tape not only exonerated Shirley Sherrod, but held her up as the kind of conscientious public servant we actually want in government. Sudden and profuse apologies were issued, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was reported to have said he was willing to reinstate Ms. Sherrod, though she is not quick to accept.

So what have we learned? The simplest answer is: the Obama Administration is on the defensive, and is hyper-sensitive to issues of race, when it has no need to be. The next answer: the NAACP has lost some of its élan by throwing someone under the bus before getting all the facts straight. The final answer, and no great surprise: conservatives will stop at nothing to embarrass, denigrate, harass, and upbraid the current administration, based on falsehoods and ignorance.

Conservatives in the Republican Party were ticked off enough that they were unceremoniously denied further power, when their dynamic duo of McCain and Palin failed to woo the moderate electorate, so crucial for winning elections. They immediately began to look for any flaw, any issue, to drive a wedge between the President and the people. So began the claims of Kenyan birth, secret plans to fill the White House with blacks bent on retribution for slavery, election-related misdeeds by ACORN, and a constant hammering of the President's agenda, even where they had previously supported the action. Stimulus, Wall Street bailout, health care, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," war policy in Iraq and Afghanistan... no matter what, no matter where, they would do battle, sure that they could hoodwink the populace into thinking that President Obama was going to begin rounding people up and denying people their rights.

Sadly, too many people in America buy into this kind of claptrap, and they are the kind of people who answer polling questions. America is moderate by nature, because it has to be -- the citizenry is a mixture of so many things that there is bound to be conflict, so cooperation and concession is the order of the day. At some point, the playing field must be made as level as is practicable, is everyone is to have the same level of freedom and liberty. The fringe wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties would have you believe the other is the ruination of the country and the world; reality lies somewhere in the middle. With each change in administration, the power of opposition shifts. George Bush was roundly criticized and excoriated for his policies (by yours truly, as well, though hopefully with some semblance of decorum) by Democrats; Barack Obama must now face the same withering fire from Republicans. His attempts to create bipartisanship are admirable, but as of this late date, fruitless. He must now take the tack his predecessor did -- forge ahead and let the critics have their say, but not engage them at every turn.

This whole event need never have happened. The Administration must, of needs, explore the possibility that there is some truth to the accusations, but no such overreaction was required. A contemplative and thorough review was required, to avoid the appearance that conservatives were capable of giving the White House marching orders, and to expose the truth. President Obama and his staff must never fall into this trap again. Let conservatives rant, let Republicans filibuster and bluster, and bring this directly to the American people. Show them the ridiculousness of such things, if they don't already know, and make it clear that the President is trying to the best for all Americans, and he doesn't expect everyone to like it. The winner is the side that can say it tried, without flinging mud. Look for the dirty uniforms, and you will see the people in the trenches, people like Shirley Sherrod, who are playing the real game, pushing America forward instead of constantly trying to hold it back.