The emperor has no clothes, yet as a nation we are acting as if he is beautifully accoutered. The media, his fellow politicians, the courts, and, according to the polls, more than half the citizenry: all are in full denial. And we are all in a full-press enabling mode.

The closer you are to the newsmakers the more calloused you become. Which at one extreme leads to simple celebrity-pandering of the likes of Larry King or the lowest common denominator audience-pandering of Rush Limbaugh. Anything for an extra ratings point. Entertainers we shall always have with us.

Most of us keep our distance, go on about our lives. We read the paper, watch the news, smile wryly if we stumble across a talk radio ranter.

In the past there has been a certain momentum, a continuity of community in America in spite of all the shouting and hype. At the heart of that shared commonality was a belief in fair play.

Yes, we know, many politicians are expedient scoundrels for whom telegenic pancake make-up is as much a necessity as clothes. Yes, we know, corporate and monied powers that be often behind the scenes bend and shape legislation to their own benefit and the populace be damned.

But over the decades there was this deep, unspoken belief that over the long, long haul enough people in power would try to do the right thing that this gigantic and complex ship called "America" would eventually go in the right direction, that of the greatest good for the greatest number with due protection for those who in one way or another find themselves outside the majority.

If there was a single American "faith", that was it, a deep belief in fairness: sectarian, crossing all lines, economic, racial, social, religious, sexual.

Since the 2000 election, of course, many have expressed doubts about the outcome. This publication has devoted more than a few pages to such doubts, some in the form of Swiftian satire, others thoughtful and serious.

A recent experience raised the possibility that things may be worse than they seem on the surface, that this American "faith" in fairness may in fact have sustained a severe, possibility life-threatening, body blow.

The unexpected and wholly out-of-character reaction of a good friend to a photograph occasioned this thought.

This friend is politically active, astute, and realistic, and above all she strives to be, yes, fair. She understands that good people can not merely disagree but disagree profoundly. She has devoted much of her life to finding ways to bring such people together in reasonable compromises with which all parties can live. This talent of hers, which she has over the years developed to a high degree of effectiveness, she uses on all levels, from small interpersonal situations to larger organizational and political situations. She has her failures but more often than not she is able to bring satisfying resolution to seemingly intractable disagreements. Fairness, finally, prevails.

I happened to be present when she saw a certain news photo which Magellan’s Log posted in a series of pictures intended to get laughs out of the reader. Some of the photos are of the absurdities of daily life. A few are of the absurdities of political life.

The specific photo in question shows George W. Bush in his meeting with the Pope. It flashed onto her monitor and she instantly collapsed in laughter. Now, let it be noted, my friend has a good sense of humor and appreciates well-crafted jokes, well-conceived and skillfully drawn cartoons, good sitcoms, good funny movies. I know how she responds to quality humor in any medium.

Her sudden response to this photograph was instant and extreme. Her laughter was the laughter of desperation, of despair. The laughter that comes when the doubt and pain that has been accumulating and accumulating abruptly finds release.

I knew the photo was funny but I didn’t think it was that funny.

This was the picture:

Only later, after she had calmed down, and I had gone away, did I realize how out-of-character her reaction was. And possibly how symptomatic of a great denial in the land.

At some deep national level we know, I believe, George W. Bush has no right to be occupying the office of President. At some deep national level we know he did not win the office fairly.

Yet we go on, day to day, pretending that everything is OK. My friend’s extreme laughter showed me that everything is not OK.

Yet we pretend. The media pretends. The New York Times even printed a column on the stem-cell problem with the by-line "George W. Bush." Well, of course, we know presidents don’t write their speeches, don’t write their own books.

In the past we had a certain faith in the duplicity. We were willing to believe that this or that president truly had thoughts and positions which were communicated smoothly and accurately by staff writers. That we could accept.

With George W. Bush, not only are we asked to pretend that he is capable of serious deep thought about stem-cell research (or any other weighty matter to which he may turn his attention), we are also expected to pretend that he sits rightfully in that office and thus has a right to expect us to so pretend.

And that’s where the breaking point comes. For my friend, it came with the awful revealing photographing of the aging pope holding the aching papal head while being forced to listen to George W. Bush.

For most Americans, the breaking point has not occurred. But if the denial is as deep as my friend's extreme reaction suggests, a national moment of clarity will come. Because this president and this presidency are both a sham, a breach of our faith in American fairness.

We’ve had weak presidents, and we’ve had presidents who squeaked into office by hook and by crook. Never have we had both so blatantly embodied in one person.

What’s to become of us? Ask any experienced mental health practitioner what happens to a person who constructs and tries to maintain a life based on delusion and denial of fundamental reality. It can be done for a while, in spite of occasional outbursts of behavioral oddities (remember Dr. Strangelove’s disobedient arm that was always popping up in an embarrassing Nazi salute).