Truthful Politicians

  Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, splattering on my hands and the toy cradled there. I sat alone in my parents’ bedroom, wishing things were different. I’d just spoken with my father, listened really since it was a one-way conversation. He’d discovered that I’d lied to him concerning a toy several times over a few days. A friend had given it to me and I, fearing that he would require me to return it, had insisted that I’d paid for it. He, knowing that I had very little cash, persisted in questioning and ultimately the truth came out. I expected serious punishment. Instead, he sat me down and talked about the importance of truth to all relationships and how disappointed he was. He left me sitting on his bed, holding the toy, and wishing he’d spanked me. It would be nice to be able to say that I never prevaricated again; however, that would not be true. Once destroyed, the habit of fidelity to the truth is hard to rebuild. That easy habit of shifting our story to suit our needs is pernicious and stubborn. Over time, I did rebuild the habit of truth-telling, but it was a long and personally painful process. I never forgot the “talk” and ensuing process. Later during my military career, I witnessed the importance of the truth.

I watched as subordinates, peers, and superiors shipwrecked their careers by falling into the habit of telling lies. My work required access to highly sensitive programs. On several occasions various coworkers would lie about personal matters, hoping to avoid embarrassment, only to find out that in the realm of military secrecy once breached faith and trust cannot be restored. Their careers in tatters, their only hope was that they had enough time in service to either retire or serve out their career in some inconsequential assignment, forever branded as untrustworthy. Fidelity to the truth is the foundation upon which all successful relationships, familial and professional, are built. An inability to tell the truth destroys faith and trust. Which is why I find our current political landscape dismaying. 

It is not the politicians that most disappoint me, though they do dishearten me. I find many friends and acquaintances willing to embrace the concept of a flexible truth. When engaged in a difficult conversation in which differences come up, I often hear, “Well, that is your truth,” or something similar. Sadly, we’ve allowed and enabled our leaders to adopt a similarly flexible approach to the truth. We allow adherence to known falsehoods to become a litmus test for party fidelity. In some groups, on the right and the left, unwillingness to embrace a falsehood leads to expulsion. This culture of toleration of falsehood leads to empowering the most radical and reactionary sectors of our society. The recent chaos in our House of Representative came about due to the embrace of well-established lie. Belief in, support of, and continually retelling the same lie does not make it any truer. When we embolden our leaders by supporting and encouraging such behavior, we hobble our government and culture. When we support and elect individuals given to prevarication and constructing legislation based on falsehood and manipulation of facts, we get shoddy government that does not truly address the pernicious issues we face. Ceding control of the levers of government to those untethered to the truth sets the stage for governmental and societal turmoil, and we the electorate are to blame.

In our representative form of government, we choose the individuals that represent us, and we have allowed party affiliation to overwhelm the truth. Contrary to what many would say, there is objective truth out there. We must exert some effort in finding it, but given access to the internet, it is relatively easy to find. Unfortunately, many of us settle for propaganda designed to reinforce our preexisting convictions instead of providing actual facts. Increasingly we choose to live in echo-chambers rather than summoning the mental fortitude required to sort through data and draw an informed opinion. Our elected officials understand this and increasingly offer up speeches and comments designed to stir up the base and provide very little in the way of valuable information. Due to the paucity of repercussions for prevarication, they repeat the lies crafted to shore up support among their perceived base. We should hold them to a higher standard, and not accept such corrupt behavior. Not only must we take the time and effort to inform ourselves, but we must also hold our elected officials accountable for their behaviors in the issue of veracity. When we elevate truthfulness over party platform, we will enjoy a higher quality of government. As long as we continue to disdain truthfulness, we will suffer under second-rate government.

As one who eschews party affiliation, I understand, and embrace, the need for strong vigorous parties on the left and on the right; however, parties, untethered to the truth do not serve the country well. When they jettison veracity, they cease to function well, primarily because they subordinate good governance to securing and maintaining power. In his unusually prescient final essay, George Washington warned against party politics, and though I do not know the complete answer to this problem, requiring elected officials to speak truthfully would be a good place to start. With truth as a base and verifiable facts as a starting point, politicians can work to develop policy and law that truly addresses the needs of the nation. But if we continue to allow and enable politicians to lie, we will suffer under government that does not serve the electorate. 

As the next election cycle unfolds, we must do our best to hold those seeking office to truthful statements, rejecting those candidates unwilling to speak truthfully. Those candidates that refuse to embrace the truth and continually lie do not serve the needs of the republic at large and will ultimately fail their own party. As I learned from my father and twenty-seven years of service in the military, truth is the coin of the realm, and we cannot discard it and expect good results. As painful as it might be, we must reinvigorate a corporate fidelity to the truth. It will not serve to look across the aisle and say, “Well they do it.” We must be intellectually honest enough to look inward first and hold our candidates, representatives, and party accountable first. When we make truth telling a priority, then we can expect profitable debate and the resultant good governance. As long as we tolerate falsehood in the name of party conformity, we will endure failed policies.