June 11, 2014

Truth

[trooth] 

noun, plural truths  [troothz, trooths]  Show IPA .

1.

The true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.

2.

Conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.

3.

A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.

4.

The state or character of being true.

5.

Actuality or actual existence.

The very mention of this word is enough to make little kids squirm in front of their parents, defendants squirm in the courtroom, and people in general a little squeamish when faced with the reality of what is about to happen next.

We live in a society which closely monitors it when dealing with lending, marketing, prison sentences, heck even car dealers have been told they must adhere to truth in advertising.  Yet in this day and age the word has no meaning when it comes to politics.  Everyday single day of every single year we hear politicians make such an effort in avoiding the truth that it has achieved almost punch line status.  They are able to continuously preach what they don’t practice because we as a society hold no one accountable to actually tell the truth. 

There is currently (unfortunately) a two party system in this country in which both sides have dedicated members that spend an enormous amount of time either hiding it, twisting it, burying it, or denying it.  They also happen to be the same people that we have elected to represent us and create laws and policies for America.  While we have watchdog groups and agencies in place whose only concern is to make sure the car dealers have on hand what they advertise on television, the average American has no such resource when it comes to their elected officials.  Frankly, I find that incredibly disturbing.  These folks who are paid an awfully high salary are accountable to no one.  And you want to know why?  We as a nation are either too busy, too lazy, too confused to even care.  We allow this to go on every day of every year, because while we certainly and rightly so expect our elected representatives to speak the truth, we have no way of knowing if indeed they are.  They put forth so much effort in trying to get reelected that most times the truth must be sacrificed for their own agenda to take hold.

The situation in this world is extremely fragile and in order for American citizens to make informed decisions and choices they must have (and quite frankly deserve) to know the truth.  We are in another election cycle and it seems every time a politician opens their mouth they have one thought and one thought only, what can I say to help me get re-elected?  We are way past due as a nation to begin holding these people to what they say.

I would submit to you that it is long past time to start holding our politicians accountable for every single thing that comes out of their collective mouths.  Their party affiliation is irrelevant at this point.  Whatever happened to the George Washington statement “I cannot tell a lie”?  Well America, the majority of politicians seem to be willing as a group to tell this country that they cannot tell the truth.

That’s all I have to say about that.