Truth, Justice, and the American Way Part II
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” Matt 15:11
Human nature hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. In the time of Jesus, those in political power maintained their position through strict interpretation of the old testament rules on what it meant to be a good jew including what people could and couldn’t eat. Jesus cut right to the core of the issue and reminded all who would listen that honesty, integrity, and brotherly love are far more important than keeping kosher.
One of my favorite Internet sites tracking those qualities in our presidential contendors is the Truth-o-Meter at Politifact.com.
You don’t have to spend much time at this site before you realize that all of the political candidates are having difficulty with the truth. When you dig into it deeper, however, the nature of their deceptions speaks volumes for the type of leader they may turn out to be.
Let’s look at a couple just for fun.
Senator Obama said that the Kennedy’s contributed money to a program that airlifted his Kenyan father to the United States to go to school. Turns out that the Kennedy’s did contribute to this program, but the contribution was made a year after Obama’s father was flown here.
Both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have made a big deal out of Senator McCain’s statement that troops could be in Iraq for 100 years. What Senator McCain was aluding to in his comment is a force similar to what we have in Germany, Japan, and South Korea and not a front line force in a shooting war.
Senator Clinton has been promoting her experience in foreign affairs at the expense of the truth. These include her description of coming under fire in Boznia with her daughter, negotiating open boarders for Kosovo refugees, and going places that were “too small, too poor, or too dangerous” for the President. She has also distorted Senator Obama’s record regarding votes for “tax subsidies and giveaways” for oil companies when in fact the bill encourages the development of alternative energy sources (as Obama has said).
Senator McCain’s straight talk has been having a tough time with the facts too. He claimed that Senator Obama “has no experience or background at all in national security affairs”, and that Obama “suggested bombing Pakistan”. Both are false. He also has claimed that it’s “common knowledge” that al-Qaida is receiving training from Iran. For someone who claims to be the most experienced foreign policy candidate, this is a big gaff. The Iranians are Shiite and al-Qaida are Sunni. As we’ve seen in Iraq, they don’t get along and certainly wouldn’t support each other regardless of any political goals that they might share. Yet even after being corrected on the campaign trail, he brought it up again in his questions to General Petraeus.
So what are we to gain from this ongoing exercise?
Here’s what this says to me.
First, if you assume that any of these candidates misspoke, you are mistaken. Everything they say is vetted and scripted by their consultants and staff. When they are distorting the record of another, telling a story that never happened, or claiming a relationship that never existed, you can bet that this position was the result of a careful political calculation.
So, second, what does that say about us?
It says we are doing a very poor job of holding our elected representatives accountable for telling the truth. We all seem to have developed a truth bias. When our candidate tells a lie, we rationalize it. When their candidate tells a lie, we condemn it and question why anyone would support them. When we hear something that we like, we are more likely to accept it as the truth even after others may question it. We we hear something that questions one of our views, we discount it rather than re-evaluate our position.
I guess what it says about us is that we’re human, lazy, and vain. Just as it is hard work to be a Christian, it is also hard work to be a productive member of a democracy. What it says about those seeking our votes is that they all to one degree or another attempt to take advantage of these weaknesses, and as a result are all themselves flawed.
So, finally, how do you choose?
My recommendation is to look for leaders who at the end of the day are seeking to rise above their own flaws by challenging themselves and us to become more than we currently are, just as Jesus did.