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Jewish World Review / August 24, 1998 / 2 Elul, 5758

Don Feder

Why liberals condone Clinton's lies

WHY ARE LIBERALS so willing to condone Clinton's lies?

After the president admitted that he repeatedly lied to the American people, why are they saying it's time to forgive and forget, when they should be screaming for his resignation?

From the liberalism of Harry S. Truman and Hubert H. Humphrey -- both of whom understood the meaning of honor -- we have descended to the liberalism of Geraldo Rivera, who blames Kenneth Starr for uncovering the truth, instead of blaming Clinton for denying the truth.

Two days after his quasi-confession, Clinton arrived on Martha's Vineyard for a well-deserved rest. (Lying can be so fatiguing.) The beautiful people were there to greet him, with banners unfurled expressing their love and admiration.

Note the evolution of the liberal veracity mantra. In the '70s, it was, "Nixon lied to the nation." In the '80s, it was, "Oliver North lied to Congress." (He didn't, but that's another story.) Today, it's, "It was only about sex!"

In part, their loyalty is pragmatic. On the issues they care about most -- abortion, racial quotas, gun control, gay rights -- they know that our 42nd president is with them heart and soul.

Beyond that, lying no longer matters to liberals because, ultimately, the liberalism of the '90s is based on a denial of reality -- itself a lie.

In the abortion debate, liberals manage to discuss a life-and-death issue without ever acknowledging that a human life is at stake. They have created a wall of cliches (choice, privacy) to obscure reality.

On AIDS, liberals assure us that we are all equally vulnerable and contracting the disease has nothing to do with behavior -- absurdities readily refuted by statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.

In the name of gender equality, they insist that a 110-pound woman is as capable in combat as a 175-pound man.

When reality collides head-on with liberal ideology, only the latter walks away from the crash.

Illusion is implicit in their cherished positions. Gun control: taking away the innocents' means of self-defense is the most effective way to fight crime. Social Security: For the ultimate Ponzi scheme, there need never be a day of reckoning.

Public education: More money will solve the problems of a gold-plated government fiasco. The free market, which has given us the wealthiest society in the world, could never hope to solve our education problems.

On college campuses, cathedrals of contemporary liberalism, racial/ethnic/gender studies departments teach make-believe history to bolster minority self-esteem.

In the words of the M. Scott Peck book, liberals truly are the people of the lie. Co-presidents Bill and Hillary are their full flowering.

The Clintons are the most liberal couple to occupy the White House, as may be seen in everything from Cabinet appointments and judicial nominations to policy positions. Not coincidentally, they are also the biggest liars in presidential history.

Bill Clinton started lying to the American people during the 1992 campaign, when he denied dodging the draft and his relationship with a cabaret singer.

The deceit has continued non-stop, down to his Aug. 17 address to the nation, when he alleged that what he said about his affair with Monica Lewinsky in the Paula Jones deposition was "legally accurate."

Like the political philosophy he embodies, Clinton can no longer distinguish between fact and fancy. The "truth" is whatever's convenient. Reality is a castle in the clouds constructed of whims and wishes.

There was a time when liberals understood why lying mattered. Every evil begins with a lie. Theft, including the political variety, starts with the falsehood that the thief is somehow entitled to the property of its rightful owner.

Totalitarianism is based on lies (fascism, the lie of race; communism, the lie of class). In the not-too-distant past, liberals grasped the fact that democratic government depends on the trust which lies destroy.

And once, they would have been appalled by a man who stood before the nation and, with his hand on the bible, swore to "faithfully execute the office of president ... and ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" (including the integrity of our legal system) -- and one year later swore to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God" -- then told lies, a pack of lies and nothing but lies to preserve and protect his mangy hide.