Carolyn Miss:

This past weekend, for example, I had the pleasure of meeting the CEO of the Girl Scouts of America because she attended my last workshop. I was absolutely delighted to discover that she was one of my participants. I had to admit to her at the onset of our conversation that the Girl Scouts was not an item on my radar. Essentially, I said, I associate the Girl Scouts with cookies. She said, “As does everyone else.”

Turns out the Girl Scouts are involved in far more enterprising activities than cookie sales. For instance, they reach out to girls who have been prostitutes and drug users and introduce them to the values and benefits of joining a Girl Scout troop. The support these girls find from being a part of a Girl Scout troop is astonishing. Then came the other astonishing tidbits, the sort that leaves you breathless for all the wrong reasons.

CEO Tamara Woodbury asked me this question, “What do you think the biggest obstacle is to inspiring girls to becoming leaders in our society?” Having just spoken about the values that the Girl Scouts stand for and consciously make an effort to communicate to their girls – honor, integrity, loyalty, courage, and patriotism – I replied that they must view leadership as a choice that would interfere with other interests.

“No,” she said. “The majority of girls feel that in order to be a leader in today’s society, they have to become liars and they do not want to compromise the values they are learning as Girl Scouts in order to become leaders.”

In the minds of these young women, leadership and lying have become one and the same choice. A leader is a liar - simple as that. Obviously we can find leaders who are not liars – sure we can. But that’s not the point, is it? The point is that these girls now associate the entire call to leadership as a compromise of integrity and honor. And whose fault is that? Surely we must all ask ourselves that question.

Out here on the margins, the truth is the only weapon we have; even leaving morality aside, we don't have the funding to sustain the vast edifice of bullshit and lies that supports the kleptocracy; professors, think tank "fellows," pollsters, public relations consultants, strategists, oppo researchers and even the meme laundries at career "progressive" blogs are all very expensive!

To me, the midterms present nothing but opportunity; I suspect that many of those who decided not to support the Ds don't want to deal with the lying any more, either. After all, what was "hope and change" but a lie? And now, here are the truly best and brightest, saying exactly the same thing. These ideas can only get stronger.

I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.

NOTE Via commenter Alyesha at Ian Welsh.

UPDATE Anglachel critiques the post here.