PERHAPS THE PRIMARY VALUE, in a democratic spirituality, would be the rather humble virtue of telling the truth.
It's nearly impossible to have any real distribution of power unless the average citizen can actually know the honest, simple facts. Unless we have some way to determine what is true and what is not, we can be manipulated endlessly by those with money and power.
But it seems we have moved backward in this respect as a democratic culture.
Case in point: Joe Biden.
When Biden ran for president the first time, in 1988, he paraphrased a little formulation from Neil Kinnock, a British politician, in talking about his education and his wife's education. He didn't use the exact same words, and everything he said about himself and his wife was true.
Furthermore, he had previously used the same formula in other speeches, and given Kinnock credit. But just once, he forgot to do that, and the press tore him apart. He ended up pulling out of the race.
Notice that there was nothing even approaching a lie involved, unless it was the sin of giving the impression he was speaking off the cuff, when he was actually following Kinnock's lead. There was certainly no misrepresentation of important political facts (like "Iraq has nuclear weapons") or misrepresentations about a political opponent (like "Mccain has an illegitimate black daughter"). Yet Biden was forced out of the race.
If that same level of honesty were applied today, McCain would have had to leave the race long ago.
And yet, when he's asked, point-blank, whether it's wrong to pretend that Obama was talking about Palin when he used the "lipstick on a pig" metaphor when McCain knows it's not true (and it isn't) he merely mumbles that politics is a tough game.
What does that mean? It means that he thinks Obama should take it like a man. It means that McCain thinks that the only person being hurt by these lies is Obama—not the voters, or his country.
But he's wrong.
McCain isn't lying to Obama, he's lying to you and me.
When politicians begin to twist the truth, it's the very fabric of democracy they're tearing at. Voters cannot vote wisely, which is our job, when we only have access to lies and half-truths.
If McCain believes that calling politics a tough game is reason enough to justify lying to the American people, will he have any trouble lying to us if he finds himself in the White House? That, after all, is an even tougher game.
This election is a spiritual test, not only for McCain, but for the country. Will we allow ourselves to be lied to? Will we elect a man who justifies lying?
Because if we do, we will get four more years that are very much like the eight we just had.
And we will deserve it.
