MILESTONE

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is imminent, and the effect on American society will be much broader than just the freedom for gays and lesbians in the military to acknowledge their sexual orientation. The nation won’t recover quickly from the damage done to the fabric of American culture by a policy of government encouraged and enforced deception and lying, but the policy’s repeal is a good start. For years young people have been told that lying about who they are is not only all right but is required by law. Why should anyone be surprised that many citizens also believe that withholding truth about matters of income or claiming bogus deductions on income tax returns is all right. It has been easy for many citizens to believe that the crime is not in the cover-up, the lying, but in being found out. For many years nobody asked Bernard Madoff if he was lying about his great investment machine, and he didn't tell. In those days it was the great American way... Not any more.

Today we have become a nation that values truth.