Gil Gutknecht is lying his way to a 7th term in Congress

On taking a cue from the President, who lied his way into Iraq

I don't use the terms "lie" or "lying" lightly. After all, they are codified in the Ten Commandments as Commandment #8: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Serious stuff.

I cite the Vatican Archives for this because Gil Gutknecht is a devout Roman Catholic, or at least he says he is.

So I get the feeling that there's something terribly wrong somewhere when he feels he has to break one of the Ten Commandments in order to retain his job. To me, that's like lying on your resume. Only worse.

Could it be that Mr. Gutknecht is not really the devout Roman Catholic that he claims to be? After all, a liar can claim anything, because whatever he says by definition does not have to be the truth.

This reminds me of the story about the explorer who, lost in a jungle, comes to a fork in the path. He recognizes the fork from a map. From legend he knows that one fork goes to the Truthtellers' village, where they will welcome him as an honored guest. But the other fork goes to the Liars' village, where they will eat him for dinner, as Dr. Hannibal Lector says, "with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."

Unfortunately, the map doesn't say which is which.

A man steps out of the jungle and blocks his way. The explorer knows the man is either a Truthteller or a Liar, but not which one. He knows he can ask only one question, as the Liars are notoriously impatient. What question does he ask to determine which path to take?

As voters we are somewhat like the explorer, as each election gives us a choice of two, or perhaps more, forks in the path. Sometimes, though it seems increasingly rare, the choice is a happy one: We get to choose between a candidate who is good and another who is better. Both individuals may have excellent character, so we can decide based on what they advocate — on the issues, if you will.

I always hope this will be true in every election I encounter. But politics has become so nasty, no driven by huge amounts of money, that one and sometimes both candidates end up renouncing their basic beliefs — their basic goodness, if you will — in their desperate efforts to prevail.

Mr. Gutknecht can't possibly believe that the TV ads he is running, the mailers he is sending, and the phone calls being made on his behalf reflect the truth about his opponent's positions on the issues. For they do not. They are totally fabricated by some political mastermind somewhere simply to deceive a gullible public.

They are in fact outright lies.

Ironically, what Mr. Gutknecht, his campaign, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee are saying about Mr. Walz the candidate are things they would never say about Mr. Walz the private citizen, the retired Sergeant Major in the Minnesota National Guard, the Mankato Teacher of the Year. If they did they would be subject to libel and slander.

For some reason, self-defined good Christians like Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Bush and Mr. Bush's confidant, Mr. Rove, feel they don't have to adhere to the Ten Commandments when it comes to (1) starting wars and (2) winning elections.

This baffles me. But then, I have no right to judge. For Jesus cautioned us about judging others. Instead, he called upon all of us simply to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

I will not be with Mr. Gutknecht the next time he enters the confessional to ask God for forgiveness for his sins. That is between him and his priest and his Maker.

But if I were he, I would have a terrible, gnawing feeling in my gut telling me, "Is what I am doing on my campaign, what I am saying about my opponent, what Jesus would want me to do?"

Like the explorer at the fork in the path, we as voters have only one question to ask in the voting booth: It is "Which way to your village?" Whether the man at the fork in the path is a Truthteller or a Liar, he will only point in one direction.

And that is the direction we must take.