So, did Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have a clandestine meeting with Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, as well as a Russian Banker? Why does it matter if he did?
Here’s a good reason: It matters because truth matters, integrity matters, morality matters, justice matters, trust matters, loyalty matters—especially in the exercise of POWER.
Question: Is there a moral backdrop to life? Is there a higher authority to which we must answer to?
Who or what governs one’s heart? Who or what rules one’s life? To whom should one give answer to, respecting one’s actions and motives? What is the measure of one’s integrity, morality, or ethics?
News Reporters are determined to get to the bottom of this Russian Thing. Why? Because, it is assumed that truth matters; and so do loyalty, integrity, and trust matter. Note that these are moral issues.
Yet, we have apparently elected a president for which truth and reality, along with morality and integrity, does not seem to matter as much—or only so in a relative sense; which is quite fitting for a culture within which moral assertions are now, more often than not, said to be a matter of opinion and therefore merely private and personal.
On the other hand, for you relativists out there, if truth is relative (including ethics and morality), then President Trump need not answer to his actions—to anyone, not even us. For, if morality is a matter of personal and private opinion, there is no place for giving account and Trump need not justify his words or deeds, personal or public—which he often does not bother to do anyway.
The irony is that this has always been considered one of the greatest responsibilities of a free press: to get to the truth of the matter. But now, in an age of Relativism, certain sectors of the public are outraged when the Press constantly seeks to know. Yes, the press operates on the assumption that there is indeed a moral backdrop to our universe, with moral absolutes—that is to say that our actions and words are expected to line up with that which is real and true, right and good.
So, for example, when News Reporters question Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, and/or questions other White House spokespersons, pressing for more info and clarification as to the Presidents words and actions, their line of questioning presumes that motive and purpose make a difference as to how an action is to be substantively interpreted—for good or for bad.
So, is there virtue? Are there ethical norms by which we live? And should we hold our elected leaders to these ethical standards? In short, are there moral boundaries or ethical lines that must not be crossed? If so, then it matters whether Kushner, Trump, and/or anyone else in the presidential office, had clandestine meetings with the Russians. And so we must find out why, and to what end or purpose.
In other words, it is not enough to know what IS; we also need to know what IS, within a moral context of what should or OUGHT to be. Thus, we need to know what IS as measured by motive, for we presume that there are good and that there are bad intentions.
This is why Trump’s administration’s refusal to give answer to the many mounting questions that are arising from the Russian Investigation, among other things, is or should be very disturbing. In actuality, most of us, if not all of us, believe that there ARE lines that must not be crossed, boundaries that must be maintained, and rules that must be adhered to. Thus, to evade accountability is tantamount to admitting that the boundaries have not been maintained with integrity—vis-à-vis, they’re hiding something!
And so, investigations and good solid news reporting matter. We therefore must not so easily dismiss or disregard Presidential statements or actions that even only appear to sidestep the light of scrutiny let alone outright smack of actual deceit and/or falsehood—unless of course we actually do buy into a reality where truth, goodness, and trustworthiness, are in fact relative, and that these virtues are only a matter of personal and private opinion.
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