"I think what is going on in Campaign 2000 is a whole construction of vital lies". So James Farrell, Professor of History at St. Olaf, began his address that outlined six lies which both the Republican and Democratic parties are telling throughout campaign 2000 at the PAC dinner, Tuesday, September 26.

"The richest nation in the world can't provide for all of its citizens" was vital lie number one. Farrell went on to say that our nation has the ability to reduce poverty in the United States though general welfare programs, and that it is ridiculous to believe that it can't.

Vital lie number two spoke to corporations. "The visions of multi-national corporations is not sufficient for the general welfare". What is good for corporations is not necessarily good for the general public because corporations are run on a supply and demand free market, and while this principle works well for business as Professor Farrell put it "unless you have money, you don't have any demands".

Sustainability was the topic of lie number three. "We can keep on living the way we are". In a country which has emits the largest amount of greenhouse gases, has the most garbage per capita, the most televisions per capita, the most cars per capita (the list goes on) it is necessary to start working for the environment. Farrell suggests full cost accounting in the market to take externalities that industry produces into account.

"We can solve the nation's racial problems by ignoring them" -- vital lie number four. The rate at which equality between the races is progressing is not fast enough, Farrell believes. In order to begin to solve the racial problems in the United States, it is necessary to talk about them. Farrell, however, went on to commend both the Bush and Gore campaigns saying that both have done an excellent job in not targeting racial issues as a means to get votes.

Professor Farrell was astounded by the amount of attention which has gone to addressing social security and health care for the elderly and deemed lie number five to be "The elderly need all of the assistance that is directed to them".

The final vital lie in Campaign 2000, the messages which protect the American people from the truth, "Jobs matter but work doesn't". Farrell went on to comment that the Democrats boast about the 28 million jobs which were created during the Clinton campaign, but that perhaps these jobs were long and hard hours of work. Although there were jobs created, perhaps people have not been paying enough attention to their families and that the people in the U.S. work too much.

Professor Farrell also said, however, that he believes very strongly in the political parties and that he votes not on the issues at hand, but on the political framework of the parties. Farrell provided a concise description of what he thinks the ideological framework of each party is as well as a brief commentary on each other's stance on the issues -- in the most non-partisan way possible.