June 2, 2008

It Really Isn't Lying - Exactly

By George Lightbourn

We can't put our finger on when it happened, but somewhere along the line our state government developed an allergy to the truth.  The allergy must be serious because we’ve looked everywhere and we simply cannot find it.

It seems that our leaders have been spinning an alternate version of the truth for so long that their spin seems almost real.  There are a few who still know that prattle is just that – prattle, but their ranks are thinning.   Increasing are ranks of those who can understand that our former President actually believed that he did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. 

For those who need a periodic fix of the truth, here are a few things you won’t hear in the Capitol:

• The state budget is in terrible shape.  It is balanced as precariously as the Chinese acrobat riding the unicycle on the three-legged stool balanced on the step ladder on the roof of a moving Cooper Mini.  We watch and watch, partly out of fascination with the fete and partly hoping not to be looking away when he finally tumbles to the ground.
  

• State government is spending a lot more than it is taking in.  Last year the state accountants told us that the state’s general fund needed an infusion of $200 million in cash from other funds just to keep paying the bills.
  

• We should expect years of driving on pothole-filled roads.  The Transportation Fund is as moth eaten as a favorite sweater as the Governor and Legislature regularly siphon cash to prop up the General Fund.  Unfortunately, as we abandon our SUV’s for the hottest new micro cars, those potholes will pack an added punch.
  

• The tax on big oil that some of us seem to have a crush on won’t really tax big oil.
  

• At some point, the Legislature will have to either raise taxes or cut spending; not the weak tea cuts of the recent “budget repair,” but real cuts that people will notice.  We know that our elected leaders, while hoping that it won’t happen on their watch, privately know that it needs doing.

Stephen Colbert claims to know what’s going on here.  He maintains that the “real truth” is as yesterday as the Hummer.  People want truthiness; they want news that feels right.  Truthiness, according to Colbert, is unencumbered by facts and reality.  The real truth is not what we really want and we surely don’t want to elect a bunch of killjoys who can’t keep bad news to themselves.

So we’re left with a government in Madison that’s akin to Hollywood’s version of a western town.  It looks great, just like we want it to look with its general store, the saloon and the blacksmith.  Sure it looks real, but it’s just a façade.  It comes complete with storefronts but no stores, stairways that lead nowhere and swinging doors with no saloon.  It’s all show with no reality, no depth.

Ok, enough of that.  In the spirit of our Badger land version of reality, let’s all celebrate our state government.  We’re blessed to have a Capitol Building filled with people solving problems, balancing the budget and always at the ready to take on the next threat to our way of life.  Ah truthiness - it just feels right.