The Camel's Nose of Truth

The greatest myth of our time is that George W. Bush is not just an exception to the rule that all politicians are liars, but that he is a true "talk-walking" Christian doing his best to obey the teachings of Jesus in all aspects of his life.>

>

Or is that the 2nd greatest myth? Other competitors for #1 include "The Constitution is the highest law of the land", "America is a rich country", "America is a free country", and "The Democrats have a cure for what ails us.">

>

It isn't really fair to pick on Bush's religious failings. No one is perfect! Unfortunately however, the media is spending far more time attempting to "dis-authenticate" documents about Bush's cover-up about his national guard service than they spent examining the administration's (false) justifications for the Iraq War. The truth about George W. Bush's guard service is fairly obvious even though he has spent the last 30 years trying to hide it: George W. Bush was trained as a fighter pilot and was a capable pilot -- with many solo flights above the Texan homeland to his credit -- until his partying started to interfere with his flying. So he chose partying over flying. End of story, except for the cover-up. The real story is about Bush's honesty, not his basically useless service protecting Texas against the Viet Cong.

In AA/NA (etc.), there is a concept called "cash register honesty". It refers to being scrupulously honest about things that don't matter very much, like being handed an extra quarter at the grocery checkout line. There is another sort of honesty which is much harder, and it involves being completely honest and not deceptive or misleading when the truth is likely to be damaging to one's future prospects. Most people tend to rationalize little fibs about the past when being interviewed for a job...or dating...or whatever. We tell ourselves, "The past is the past, and what this person doesn't know won't hurt him; but it will hurt me!" So the lie comes quickly to our lips. Later, when the danger is past it is easy to confess the truth and pray for forgiveness. The Christians have a term for that: "Cheap Grace".

You will know for sure when George W. Bush either A) no longer wants something from you, or B) has become a sincere Christian and is on the road to recovery from his alcoholism/drug(s) addiction. The truth will be obvious. You will know it when he admits to past use of illegal drugs such as cocaine, and admits to blowing off his military flying career because of his "partying".

In the meantime we are left with other congenital liars, the Democrats and nearly every high-level official in the U.S. government! After the election in November perhaps the Camel's Nose of truth will poke into our desert tents of ignorance. ("Truth is so valuable that it often must be safe-guarded by a host of lies." ).

The Democrats are going to lose in November because their man Kerry has nothing to run on. The Democrats have spent the last 3 years and 8 months actively participating in George W. Bush's policies. They voted for the PATRIOT ACT and the Iraq War, and put up feeble opposition to Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. And they voted for the new Medicare drug benefit, knowing full well that there is no money to pay for it. In other words, they helped Bush gut the Bill of Rights, loot the Treasury, and bleed America's military for no honest reason on the sands of Iraq. So what can Kerry debate about now? The method of war...the rate of looting...the amount of blood...Bush's national guard cover-ups... Kerry has Nada. Zip.

I'll vote for Kerry. This will be my first vote since I voted for McGovern. And it may be my last vote unless a credible third party enters politics. The problems facing any third party seem insurmountable now but when the epic scale of the problems facing America become obvious to all and the crisis is upon us, there will be an opportunity for change. Unfortunately, even to the bitter end, powerful vested interests will fight bloody battles to retain their perks and entitlements (note the powerful emotional connotations in the trigger word, "entitlement"!) For example, even the simplest, most reasonable partial solutions to our chronic budget deficits, such as decriminalization of soft drugs like pot, will run into opposition from the powerful prison guard union (not to mention the police unions!) Imagine that -- remedying an injustice and freeing millions of non-violent people from "The System" would mean job losses for prison guards. Can't have that, eh? And imagine the confusion we'll face! Can we have "worker solidarity" with prison guards? Will we take to the streets in protest to re-imprison weed smokers so that our badge-wearing brothers can continue to earn $40,000 a year plus full medical, pension and vacation benefits?

That is just one example of society's dependence upon the status quo of government spending. No matter how wastefully stupid and backassward the government policy may be, there are sure to be at least a million people who count on it for a paycheck. In this era of outsourcing, "good" jobs like "Correctional Officer" are not easy to find.

I wish that I had some simple answers right now. Or even complicated answers. Many futures are possible, and the roads we will take to get there are not on the map. I could say that I don't believe government will solve our problems, but even that cannot be universally true because there are always going to be people receiving government paychecks who see their life work as "public service" (i.e. doing well by doing good.) Instead I offer only these well-worn tokens:

-- Spock