What are the consequences for us when politicians don't tell the truth?
January 19, 2012
How many of you just assume that a politician is going to lie and not tell you the truth at some point?
It's just assumed that politics and lying go hand in hand. The two words seem to be synonyms. Their efforts at untruth will run the continuum from just shading a fact to their favor to an outright lie. Does anybody who is not in politics disagree with this statement?
What are the consequences for us as citizens when politicians and their statements are allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged?
There's a new book--How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think by Andy Andrews--that raises these questions for us during a transition time in our history where politicians dominate everything we do. Their unchecked and unchallenged words have never had more potential for good or for harm.
In this small book, Andrews points to the Jewish Holacaust where more than 11 million were murdered where Germans refused to believe or acknowledge the truth of what was happening. They were misled and they refused to acknowledge the truth as it was unwrapped for them.
As you watch CNN today or read news on the web and see what our political leaders are saying, ask yourself how you know what they are saying is the truth? What can you do when you're not sure or when you know it's an outright lie or it's a fact that's shaded and turned?
Both parties and their partisans engage in these actions where the truth is played with or ignored.
Why do we let it happen? Would you rather be lied to or would you rather know the truth?