It’s been said that the first casualty of war is Truth. I think that it’s the first casualty of a political campaign. Spin, twisting words, quoting out of context, even reversing a speaker’s intended meaning is far too easy with today’s audio/video splicing, cutting, and editing technology. The technology is so good these days that it’s next to impossible to tell whether the actual audio/video footage has been tampered with.
Voters beware! Too often voters are led to believe one thing during a campaign, only to find out, after the election of course, that they had been fed a load of half truths, misquotes, subtle inferences, misleading veiled allusions— lies! Incomplete and/or deliberately withheld information is tantamount to a lie. The intent is to mislead and redirect a person’s thinking. The desire is to render ineffective the actual or whole truth for fear of its impact on the minds and hearts of voters.
Voters, we need to unite on one thing. Whatever our party, affiliation, political persuasion, or leanings, we should at least unite in our demand and expectation of the TRUTH from all sides. We must not allow ourselves to be hoodwinked; nor should we condone the duping of our opponents even by our favorite political players or party.
It’s for our own good. Truth is always better than half-truths and lies. Even if we don’t like what we hear when we hear the truth. Only Dictators and Totalitarian governments believe in controlling information and “bending” people’s minds, by manipulating accounts, facts, figures, and other data in order to re-direct people’s thinking toward a predetermined conclusion. Such methods are like cancer to a true democratic process.
If we continue to tolerate such methods by candidates we support (let alone oppose), we are saying that “the ends DO justify the means” and are sanctioning deception as an appropriate means to gain power and control. This is a very dangerous and self-destructive path for a democratic society.
Do we really believe that lying is more helpful in gaining our desired ends, than speaking plain ole truth? Are we that afraid of the truth? Of course, the truth can sting. It can hurt. But whereas truth may hurt, a lie can kill. Truth is Reality. We need to be in touch with Reality if we are going to make intelligent and wise decisions affecting our society and its government. Inaccurate, false, and misleading information only leads to inadequate, ill-conceived, and misapplied judgments and incorrect conclusions with bad results.
The more information we have, the better. Who is backing-up a cause, providing money, time, and other resources, and why? We need to know. The truth is also very much about intent—motive and purpose. Follow the money: what’s at stake; who are the stakeholders, and why? These are some of the questions we should have answers to, before voting. Too many times there are organizations and supporters of a cause that hide behind great American themes like “Citizens for the Good!” Well, who could be against citizens that are for the good? Right? Later we discover that “Citizens for the Good” are a small but powerful minority with lots and lots of money whose only concern is their own good, rights and privileges, over against the rest of us, that is, you and I, the average voter on the street! But they wanted us to think that they were/are one of us so that we’d vote in their favor.
Let us unite as voters and commit ourselves to the following:
1. We will not allow the ends to justify the means. We will not accept the manipulation of information—truth content and substance—just so that our cause (party, special interest) may win.
2. We demand the whole Truth as something that is always better than half-truth and/or lies, even if the truth should hurt our own particular cause or interest. That is, we believe that Truth will always make a democracy stronger, healthier, wiser, and overall more effective, which is what we want more than just winning any one particular election.
3. We expect transparency. We need to know who, what, where, when, how, and why? If a group or cause is not willing to let us know who is backing them, where the money is coming from, that is to say, if there is no transparency, we suspect foul play and will not allow ourselves to be duped by those hiding behind a cloak of secrecy.
4. We will not trust at face value any “damaging information” provided by an opposing party, cause, etc., without determining the whole and complete truth/story/account on the matter. We will ask: is this the whole Truth, the big picture, or is it taken out of context? What is NOT being said here? Are we being emotionally manipulated? Is this ad trying to get me to assume or believe something without first doing some serious thinking about it or without obtaining further information on the matter, and if so, why?
5. We are committed to an open and transparent political process. We believe that the best ends also deserve the right means to that end. We want, expect, and demand TRUTH from all sides at all times. We are not to be used, manipulated, or toyed with. We are intelligent and thoughtful voters and expect to be respected as such from our politicians and political players.
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