Voters must find a path to truth ~ opinion from Pennsylvania
The United States is drowning in lies and distortions
No wonder we're in trouble. People are less concerned with hearing the truth than they are with hearing things that confirm their political views.
That's why, instead of all sitting down for Walter Cronkite every night, we gravitate now to our own cable stations and news tailored to what we want to hear.
That's why a presidential candidate can tell lie after lie after lie throughout his campaign and then go on to lie several times a day as president and recruit a team of spokespeople who are willing to lie with him, about everything.
It's why facts unearthed by the world's top scientific minds and investigative findings of our federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies are ignored, even mocked, in favor of wacky conspiracy theories.
It's why dedicated professional journalists who care about responsibly performing their important watchdog role are being lumped in with cable TV hucksters and bizarro far right and far left websites, some created by foreign powers specifically to trick us.
It's why the propaganda techniques developed and perfected during Hitler's rise to power have been dusted off to confuse Americans about what's real and what isn't.
It's why people can't discuss politics anymore, in person or through various social media platforms, without concluding they're dealing with traitors, morons or both.
It's why members of Congress are incapable of accomplishing anything except through majority party lockstep, and why our political leaders routinely make public statements that directly contradict what they know to be true and have said in the past.
It's why an entire committee of Pennsylvania Republican legislators followed unhinged committee Chairman Daryl Metcalfe off the ethical cliff, twice in the last month, when at least some of them had to know how wrong it was.
It's why someone like Daryl Metcalfe could be a committee chairman instead of shunted off to a far corner as an embarrassment to his party.
It's why some politicians are getting away with writing off the cause of good government as a partisan issue instead of one that every American should embrace as an act of responsible citizenship.
This is the reality of our America in 2018, and I'm not confident that we can count on either of our major parties to get us back on the right track.
It's up to us.
That's why, instead of all sitting down for Walter Cronkite every night, we gravitate now to our own cable stations and news tailored to what we want to hear.
That's why a presidential candidate can tell lie after lie after lie throughout his campaign and then go on to lie several times a day as president and recruit a team of spokespeople who are willing to lie with him, about everything.
It's why facts unearthed by the world's top scientific minds and investigative findings of our federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies are ignored, even mocked, in favor of wacky conspiracy theories.
It's why dedicated professional journalists who care about responsibly performing their important watchdog role are being lumped in with cable TV hucksters and bizarro far right and far left websites, some created by foreign powers specifically to trick us.
It's why the propaganda techniques developed and perfected during Hitler's rise to power have been dusted off to confuse Americans about what's real and what isn't.
It's why people can't discuss politics anymore, in person or through various social media platforms, without concluding they're dealing with traitors, morons or both.
It's why members of Congress are incapable of accomplishing anything except through majority party lockstep, and why our political leaders routinely make public statements that directly contradict what they know to be true and have said in the past.
It's why an entire committee of Pennsylvania Republican legislators followed unhinged committee Chairman Daryl Metcalfe off the ethical cliff, twice in the last month, when at least some of them had to know how wrong it was.
It's why someone like Daryl Metcalfe could be a committee chairman instead of shunted off to a far corner as an embarrassment to his party.
It's why some politicians are getting away with writing off the cause of good government as a partisan issue instead of one that every American should embrace as an act of responsible citizenship.
This is the reality of our America in 2018, and I'm not confident that we can count on either of our major parties to get us back on the right track.
It's up to us.
Labels: Bill White, The Morning Call
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 4:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home