“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
The skeptic philosopher Diogenes among other unusual proclivities would walk around in broad daylight with a lit lantern. When asked why, his response was that he was searching for an honest man. The clear inference was that hitherto his search had been unsuccessful, and that his expectation was that it would always be so. It would seem to be a tenet of modern day skepticism to echo Diogenes, especially when it comes to the political arena, and it has become a mark of sophistication to espouse the assumption that all politicians are liars. To admit to the imperfection of all human beings is a far cry though from equating the fallible with the depraved. Diogenes lamp is employed today less often to search for honesty as it is to illuminate dishonesty, make it appear pervasive, and in so doing excuse it as inevitable.
In only a slightly less cynical lyric, Neil Young sang of his long search for “a heart of gold” with the hint of desperation that he might not find one, as opposed to Diogenes’s sneering assurance that he most certainly would not. Similarly we counsel our children on finding good hearted mates, knowing full well how difficult a search that can be. At times we are almost persuaded of the the axiom that all men are pigs (and all women sows), and we are tempted to tell our daughters and sons to expect nothing more. That would be the easier path to find, if not to walk. Likewise with our politicians; it would be more expedient to assume that they are all liars and cheats, and then we could simply vote for our party of choice, like your favorite NFL team… who cares if they beat their wives and children… right?
But it is not that simple. All men are not pigs, though many are. All men are human, and a few are very good humans. If we are not willing to do the work to differentiate between the good and the pigs, then the law of averages dictates that we will be led by pigs. There are times when we will be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, and if we are to avoid the greater of two evils we may need to make that disappointing choice. That, however, should be a situation of last resort rather than a perennial routine. Incumbency has become the enemy of integrity. Every time a politician comes up for reelection should be seen as an opportunity to replace them with someone better. The electorate should evaluate their job performance, and a primary challenge might be a good motivation for performance. Our complacency tempts us to assume that the devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know, but they’re not all devils! We need to continue our search for honest men, for hearts of gold.
As the world seems to be falling apart at the seams, it would be so good to have leaders we could believe in. Unfortunately we have been lied to, misled, and the truth obfuscated at every turn. This is perhaps water under the bridge, but then what are we to suppose about what our leaders are telling us today? In a relationship, trust is hard to build, easy to destroy, and nearly impossible to rebuild. If our leaders would lie about Benghazi or the IRS scandal, what are we to believe about what they tell us about ISIS or ebola, here a few short weeks before the elections? Truth with distrust is no better than lies, we need leaders we can trust, leaders we can believe.
IMHO: As election season descends upon us we are inundated with the usual negative advertising. The clipped quotes taken out of context, the unfortunate awkward photos usually cast in black and white, the accusations, the sound-bites… all beg the question, how dumb do they think we are? The answer of course is that they believe we are quite dumb. The general success of such advertisements despite our avowed disdain for them would seem to indicate that they are correct in their assessment. If not dumb, we are lazy. It is much easier to get our information from a thirty second commercial than to find out for ourselves, and what difference does it make if they’re all rotten anyway? It’s easier to assume, as the ads portray, that they are all pigs, and better to vote for your pig than theirs. Sharing Diogenes’s cynicism may make you seem sophisticated; it will certainly simplify your decision making; but you will be without hope, and without hope, you will never find a heart of gold.
