The Cost of Candor

Went to the barber shop today.  They had an old Time Magazine.  A real paper version!   Took me me a while to recall how to physically turn a paper page.  Through perseverance, I overcame this impediment.

While waiting my turn for a haircut I leafed through it.  In doing that I ran across  Nancy Gibbs' article "The Cost of Candor" (February 28, 2011).  Essentially Ms. Gibbs explains that politicians lie to us because telling the truth would be suicidal for them.  An unfortunate reality.

Ms. Gibbs, I observed also recognized the vacuous truth behind our so-called deficit "reduction" efforts.  She refers to these misleading claims of budget solutions as a "pathetic pageant".  She correctly observes that: "Meanwhile, the President proposes a budget that addresses the deficit by adding only $7 trillion over the next decade rather than $8 trillion."  Good for her, finally someone in the media has correctly articulated in the mass media that each budget proposal is nothing more than the continuation of a "pathetic pageant" of deceit. Regretfully, avoiding the truth today is not merely suicidal for the truth teller, but for the country as a whole.