I'm only lying when my lips are moving

By GRAHAM OSTEEN
Editor-At-Large
graham@theitem.com

Lately there's been an increase in the amount of screaming, shouting and lying, which means people care passionately enough about this country to speak up.

We had a Sumter County councilman and a state senator hollering at each other about video poker and morals; a congressman hollering at the president about lying, and a steady stream of screaming and hollering about the lying, cheating love governor who won't leave.

Sometimes it seems the level of meaningful public discourse has diminished in direct proportion to the rise of the 24-hour news (and fake news) cycle, but that's the world we live in right now.

One might also argue that America is getting collectively dumber by the minute as our attention spans shrink, which doesn't bode well for people with no inclination toward reading, education or analytical thought in the first place. It's what you call an inverse relationship, all of which spells danger to the republic, for which we stand.

The Founding Fathers sat down with a feather pen and ink blotter to put their thoughts on paper after a great deal of reading, debate and discussion, leading to the creation of some of the greatest documents ever conceived. These were then set in type by hand, one letter a time, and "We The People" actually read them.

Now it seems we - meaning the nation as a whole - may be suffering from the dreaded disease my grandfather called "Diarrhea of the Mouth and Constipation of the Brain." Complex issues have to be broken down more succinctly than ever, and if you can't put it on a postcard or turn it into an "elevator pitch," your idea, argument or proposal is probably in trouble.

President Obama hasn't been able to gain the nation's confidence on the possibility of health care reform because he can't explain it in a meaningful way. As a result, he just drones on about it, exaggerates and uses scare tactics to put forth his arguments, as do his opponents. Everyone eventually shouts because no one has the answers or even a convincing scenario of what may work. It's too complex. The same is true of the ongoing stimulus packages and unaccountable government spending, which explains why so many Americans traveled to Washington this weekend in support of "The 9-12 Project."

I would guess very few people in the world — if anyone — can claim to understand all that's transpiring, and we know that only a few people have actually read these stimulus and health care bills at all. None are elected representatives.

That's why it's clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense that the majority of the folks on both sides of all these issues are simply lying — badly — in order to advance their own arguments. The good news is that it's not working.

Mark Twain wrote a famous essay called, "On The Decay of the Art of Lying." Here's a portion that speaks to the current political climate:

No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances -the deduction that it is then a Virtue goes without saying.

No virtue can reach its highest usefulness without careful and diligent cultivation - therefore, it goes without saying that this one ought to be taught in the public schools — even in the newspapers. What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert? What chance have I against a lawyer? "Judicious" lying is what the world needs. I sometimes think it were even better and safer not to lie at all than to lie injudiciously. An awkward, unscientific lie is often as ineffectual as the truth.

In that light, I must now report fully on what was actually a friendly exchange between President Obama and South Carolina U.S. Rep. "Rebel Joe" Wilson the other night.

Most people, myself included, completely missed that President Obama had just said, "We're going to fix this nation together. The future of America is at stake, and nothing is easy. We'll have to be patient and flexible and respect one another's views, and we must remember that every problem is not a crisis." Rep. Wilson was so happy he blurted out, "You lie," in an affectionate way, as when friends say, "That's just too good. You must be lyin to me, buddy." What was drowned out by the confusion in the wake of Rebel Joe's spontaneous outburst was the president saying, "I ain't lyin' Rebel Joe. We're all in it together." It's hard to believe things can get so twisted by the media.

On Sept. 11, 2001, we found out we are all infidels. It's hard not to notice that we're now too busy talking and texting and e-mailing to remember the lessons learned that day.

I'll give it a shot in the form of an elevator pitch on a postcard:

There are a lot of people in this world who hate America. The same people who did the deeds on 9/11 are out there working hard to do it again. That's something we can count on. We can argue about every issue we face, but our allegiance must always be to our country. Be an American first, and demand that your representatives act accordingly.

Graham Osteen is co-president of Osteen Publishing Co. and Editor-At-Large of The Item. Contact him at The Item, 20 North Magnolia St., Sumter, S.C., 29150; graham@theitem.com, or call 803-774-1352.