Six Big Lies

Yes, I was a "spin doctor" in a previous life. As a practitioner of critical thought, however, I've grown weary of six Big Lies.

Big Lie #1: "We've turned the corner."
This flows from the belief that upticks in equity markets, sporadic reports of quarterly profits and anecdotal accounts of hiring are so-called "leading indicators" of a hoped-for economic turnaround.

Don't believe it.

We haven't yet learned that recovery will begin only when we, individually and collectively, change the ways that we consume and spend. If our goal is to return to "the way things were" before the downturn, we're dooming ourselves (and likely our children) to "the way things are" right now.

Until we move from want-driven consumption closer to need-based consumption, nothing of long-term consequence will change.

We can't rely on providers of goods and services to cooperate -- they'll continue to play to our desires and prey on our emotions. It's up to us to resist their hype. We have to make better choices.

Big Lie #2: "We must cut taxes and reduce the national debt."
Like a woman who slathers on makeup to hide her age, this Big Lie is a "blocker" -- attractive from a block away, but don't look too closely.

Reining-in revenue is (by itself) wholly incompatible with eliminating debt. It's simple-minded (along with delusional and selfish) to favor political candidates because they promise to cut our taxes -- it exacerbates the problem rather than solving it.

Lightening the burden on the next generation can be accomplished only through a combination of increasing revenue and reducing spending. Taxes will need to be higher, not lower, and government services must be far fewer.

Pay attention, all you low-hanging-fruit conservatives: gutting social-welfare programs won't get the job done. Spending would need to be slashed throughout the bureaucracy, and that includes defense and infrastructure. Get a grip on that.

It's fine, especially in hard times, to complain about the taxes we pay, but let's start telling the truth about that and stop trying to turn this Big Lie into a pseudo-intellectual argument.

Big Lie #3: "The Tea Party can be a player."
The current incarnation of the Tea Party is little but a smoke-screen for anti-administration ideologues. Soon it'll be reduced to a handful of far-right klaxons within the Republican Party and that'll be that.

What's more, the Tea Party shames true independence. It claims to be beholding neither to the Democrats nor to the Republicans and makes good on only half of its promise. It's a scam, and an extremist scam at that.

Our political climate doesn't need a third party. We need millions more independent citizens who pledge allegiance to no party.

Big Lie #4: "It's Obama's economy."
It's no more credible to blame (or praise) this President than it is to blame (or praise) previous administrations. The government isn't the problem -- we're the problem.

In short, there are entirely too many people bitching about bailouts while paying for an oil change at a GM dealer with a Citi VISA card.

This is our economy. We created it, we broke it and we must fix it. Until we get that -- and act like it -- what's broken can't be fixed.

Big Lie #5: "Bipartisanship."
Party loyalty reigns. Collaboration is dead. Statements to the contrary are sheer puffery.

Our only escape from The Big Lie of Bipartisanship is independence -- not just independence from the two dominant parties, but from political and ideological herds in general.

Big Lie #6: "Socialism."
This canard owes its life to The Cult of Talk Radio. That alone would be enough to torpedo its credibility.

Any attempt to label the current administration as "socialist" reflects a gross misunderstanding of "socialism" itself. Adding insult to ignorance, objecting only to "socialist" government programs that fail to line-up with conservative ideology, while giving a convenient pass to pets of the far right, is intellectually laughable.

And that's the rub, really, with all of these Big Lies -- under scrutiny, they're patently ridiculous.

Because the future of my country is at stake, however, I don't feel much like laughing.