c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Let’s call this new group “Deceivers Anonymous.” (The name “Cheaters Anonymous” is already taken, by a group focusing on adultery.)

Impetus for another addiction-recovery group comes from a steady stream of hearings, memos, e-mails and news reports that reveal a systemic disease of deception.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, for example, piously lectured poor nations on corruption, while allegedly securing a high-paying job for his girlfriend and then hiding it. This pathetic display brought to mind his earlier role as manipulator of phony evidence for waging war in Iraq.

Challenged to explain sudden firings of federal prosecutors for political gain, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez spun a web of deception to save his job, got caught, and rehearsed five hours a day for testimony before Congress.

Meanwhile, White House operative Karl Rove shunned accountability for his role in corrupting the legal system. When confronted with suddenly missing e-mails, he reverted to the child’s defense, “I didn’t mean to do it.”

Presidential aspirant Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., strolled through a Baghdad market surrounded by troops and wearing body armor, and then declared the market a safe place and proof of a war’s virtue.

What is it about deception? Surely, Watergate, Iran-Contra and Zipper-gate should have shown the folly of lying in the news media’s glare. As a strategy for gaining and using power, deception is irrational. Nothing stays hidden. And yet, like an alcoholic reaching for another self-destructive pint, politicians on both sides of the aisle routinely lie. They’re just as routinely stunned to be caught.

That’s why I call it an addiction. Like other addictions, deception feeds grandiosity: Normal standards of honesty don’t apply to me; my interests are more important than truth.

Deception appeals to those who feel powerless _ like the bully who doesn’t feel potent enough to deal openly with people.

Deception is chronic _ the liar cannot stop lying and suddenly embrace the virtues of transparency and honesty. Eventually, every situation becomes an excuse to lie.

Deception is a progressive disease _ as small lies spawn larger lies both to prevent discovery and to keep the high going. Thus, a little skirt-chasing by Bill Clinton in Little Rock leads inexorably to impeachable dalliance in the Oval Office, and skirting National Guard duty by a young George W. Bush leads inexorably to a war grounded in deceit.

Deception requires denial _ a stubborn refusal to confess even the smallest untruth, followed inevitably by cascading proof of falsehood, damage done, and mounting scorn and distrust, until even the liar’s supporters are shaking their heads.

Deception is self-destructive _ political suicide, marital suicide, professional suicide, one desired reality after another sacrificed to keep the web of deception intact.

Deception requires enablers _ as people look the other way when cheating mounts, at first to protect a friend or admired leader from negative consequences, and soon to hide their own complicity in untruth.

Deception destroys trust _ as people begin to assume all words are lies and retreat into self-protection.

Deception in high places is difficult to address, because its claims to good policy or high morality appeal to our patriotism and institutional loyalty. Deception is difficult to unveil and prosecute because, with political and economic interests at stake, perpetuating a deception seems preferable to letting the other party win or the other company get the business.

So, you say, what else is new? Old story, politicians lie. I just know nothing will get better until we name the disease, stop enabling it, stop trying to benefit from it, and admit that deception is winning.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest in Durham, N.C. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)

KRE/RB END EHRICH

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