The only solution for our leaders: Just always tell the truth

An Aloha attorney reflects on the meaning of the election process

By Lauren Paulson

, Dec 28, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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(Soapboxes are guest commentaries from our readers, and anyone is welcome to write one. Lauren Paulson is an attorney from Aloha.)

With the recent election results now in, it should be a time for reflection. As ordinary citizens, between our local government, our state government and government on the national stage, are we being told the truth? Are we entitled to the truth? Do we even care?

On the national stage there is good reason for concern. A reading of Eric Alterman’s “When Presidents Lie,” and Noam Chomsky’s “Failed States,” offer stark, recent examples in addition to the obvious equivocations from President George W. Bush. Both books analyze deception by our highest leaders over the last 50 years. Some lies are well known, others suspected but perhaps not confirmed in the public’s mind. President Franklin Roosevelt lied to us about what he agreed to with Stalin regarding Poland at the Yalta Conference at the zenith of World War II.

It is well known that President Ronald Reagan foisted a huge lie on the public with the Iran-Contra affair as he tried to prop up the fascists against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. In addition, President Reagan broke the law. He also gave in to blackmail with respect to the hostages and lied about that. I wonder if Reagan ever visited Nicaragua.

Alterman goes on to catalog and discuss in detail the failures in high leadership regarding the truth of President John Kennedy in trading our missiles in Turkey for the Russian’s missiles in Cuba and President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s deceptions about the Bay of Tonkin incident during the Vietnam War. The truth is that no incident occurred as described by President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to justify the war resolution. There were no actual sightings of a North Vietnam attack on our ships. It simply did not happen.

There are other breaches of our national integrity throughout our history. It is a sorry tale how the business interests of the Dole fruit company caused the kind and respected Queen of Hawaii to be deposed at the turn of the century. Resurfacing with current immigration concerns is the question of how we acquired our southwestern states from Mexico in the first place.

Now we have President Bush II’s deceptions on why we are fighting a war in Iraq. Between us as individuals and the lack of integrity of our leadership, where is the disconnect? We all regard ourselves as honest. But are our governmental leaders honest? If not, why not? What do we do about it? How about state and local government? Is there honesty and integrity in leadership at that level? Is there lobbying, lying, graft and corruption at these levels of our government? Do we simply turn away, switching channels to the next big thing on the television screen? How do we explain this to our kids?

Here is how derelict I have been. I thought during my youthful indiscretions in trying marijuana and other things, that when I got done with those harmless things others would try them and the “fad” would eventually go away. Similarly, I expected that when Watergate was over, all politicians, except hardened criminals, would get the message and sin no more. That has not happened. We now have to do something about the lack of honesty and integrity of our governmental leaders.

Several years ago, in a speech to Oregon lawyers, an articulate, senior judge from Arizona proposed a novel idea. In order for any group or individuals to get their reputation back once lost, they must tell the truth. Just tell the truth. Always tell the truth.

John Rawls, a Harvard professor and philosopher, stated in his book, “A Theory of Justice,” that truth is the first virtue of thought. That is it. We should go to our elected representatives now and just ask them to do one thing for us starting right now: tell the truth. Always tell the truth. Tell us only the truth and the whole truth. Not spin. And tell them if you don’t always tell the truth as our government leader – tell them as leaders they will be dispatched to the sorry dustbin of history for their deception and vote them the hell out of office. At least it is a first step.