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Truth
in Politics
For
some strange reason, we've learned to tolerate the use of deception
in politics. We are constantly subjected to partial truths, misleading
statements, spin, outright lies, cherry-picking of intelligence and negative
campaigns that are slanderous in and of themselves. And yet we accept
them with a shrug as part of the system.
I wonder why?
It stands to reason that it is vital to
any democracy to have leaders who scrupulously tell the truth—and
all the truth. How else can voting citizens know who and what to support?
It is the duty of our representatives to keep us intelligently informed
about everything.
It is true that some politicians are more
concerned about winning or asserting their power than performing this
primary duty of open and honest communications. They don't mind pleasing
special interests by pulling the wool over our eyes. We've seen a lot
of that in our lifetimes, from trying to privatize Social Security to
leading us into an unjust war to making abortion the decisive issue just
before elections. A lot of rhetoric, a lot of promises. And, quite frankly,
a lot of lies.
We hear Tom Delay declaring a cultural war
between liberals and conservatives. I don't know who voted for this war.
Most people I know don't care for it at all. And what does he mean by
war? That anything is acceptable in order to win? Before instigating his
own brand of political warfare, he should have got permission from the
people first. And that requires front-room communication.
Our media perform little better. In their
frenzy for ratings, and downright laziness, they fail to investigate as
well as they should. They've become part of the problem, framing Howard
Dean's "scream speech," for example, in such a way as to disqualified
him for the presidency, while George Bush went around hardly cognizant
of the world around him. We are paying a high price for that decision
today.
Three crucual points stress the importance
of having truth in politics:
-
The world is a very dangerous and complicated place.
- The
United States is the most powerful country in the world.
- The fate of our planet and everyone on it depends on our decisions.
It's
that important. We can't afford devious political games, deceptions, and
hidden agendas. The ramifications of our policies on the environment and
on people are too ofter devastating. The ripples from every stone we cast
impacts the whole of humanity.
We've heard one scandal after the other
in recent years. Payoffs, money-laundering, leaking information to harm
an American citizen for exposing the truth. We've heard that Saddam Hussein
was connected to Al Qaeda to justify our invasion, and that mushroom clouds
hung over heads. We've heard that tax breaks for the rich help everyone
("real money for real people"), while social programs were being
cut. Seems a little one-sided to me. Globalization was supposed to benefit
us all. Illegal immigrants as well. All we witness are jobs going over
seas and a precipitous drop in the wages of unskilled labor.
Lies! Lies! And more lies!
Perhaps we have too many millionaires in
Congress profiting from all these misdirected decisions. Perhaps the media
no longer cares about the fate of America, as long as their ratings stay
constant. Perhaps commercialism has dulled our senses to the point that
we don't care that the world is crumbling around us, as long was we enjoy
the latest fashions and gossip.
The
world is too fragile a place for that to continue.
We need representatives who have complete
integrity in their vocations, who care more about doing what is right
than contributing to a political war that wrecks havoc across this nation.
Seeds for Thought invites you to
think about these things—think about them well until they stir you
to make a difference. Think beyond the misleading sound-bites. Reject
the propaganda. Stop playing follow-the-leader. Jesus said that the truth
would set us free. We need that kind of freedom now, or the meek that
he so cherished won't have much of a world to inherit.
It's time for each of us to sow seeds
for thought wherever we go, to whomever will listen. We have to take
a stand for the integrity of our nation and insist that honesty becomes
the law of the land, in politics, business and our everyday lives.
See:
Citizen
Declaration
(Word Document) to help you get started.
