Biblical Landmarks

“Lying is to democracy what manure is to rhubarb.”

Can you believe someone actually said that?

Sometimes you wonder what depths highly paid academics will go to in offering the public the latest in academic research.

In 2003, a Reader in Politics at a British University claimed to have discovered something the ordinary citizen has known all along.

Politicians lie.

Imagine that. This extraordinary finding came upon examining mainly US politicians and events such as Watergate, Irangate, and The Lewinsky affair. Apparently those incidences prove the politicians in a democracy lie to the people.

Now some of us have been trying to say this for years without much success. But now we have the backing of a fully funded research project to establish the case.

However, there is a strange twist in the conclusions of this report. It seems our researcher makes lying a virtue, rather than a vice. “Lying is to democracy,” he said, “what manure is to rhubarb.”

Such an incredible conclusion is beyond comprehension. For those of us reared in an age where manners and character were important, lying was an unforgivable activity.

Now, however, we are expected to roll over and bless the fact that our politicians lie to us as a means of preserving democracy.

If this is the case, may heaven preserve us against both democracy and lying politicians. Not to mention the protection we need against academics that find it hard to encourage eternal virtues.

On the other hand, our academic researcher has equated lying with manure — which is not a bad illustration of what lying does to a culture. Rather than fertilize, its aroma rises to high heaven very quickly, and when people see it on the road, they step around it with the realization that manure in the wrong place — like lying in politics — is hardly a favored commodity.

It can truly be said that manure, when treated properly, makes people flushed with pride — at its disposal, not its continuation. And while public manure can be a sign of chronic illness, so too lying can be a symptom of chronic verbal diarrhoea.

If lying is a sign of a healthy democracy, so too is the dishonesty that is evident in the business community. And if our politicians can lie to us, why not our business managers, our financial controllers, our pastors, and those whom we trust in positions of leadership?

If you wonder why there is a problem with integrity in your culture today, look no further. Here’s the answer, supported by academic research.

If there’s need to defend lying by saying it is a necessary sign of a healthy democracy we have reached a very low bottom in our thinking of everything that is good and noble. And, when all is said and done, virtues are what make community possible.
No wonder that our culture is in disarray when our politicians and businessmen lie, our academics defend it, and our clergy sit silently on the sidelines.