Quest for the Truth

Absolute truths are eluding me.

I don't mean the truth that Yahweh created the universe or that Jesus of Nazareth died and rose again. I trust that those are truths. The truths that elude me are petty facts. Many times they are things that are construed in diametrically opposed directions by different people. Maybe some of the truths that I seek are simply unavailable to be found. Yet I continue the search; it's making me weary.

This political season brings out the worst in the truth-searching sport. McCain and Obama sit on stage at a debate. McCain claims Obama supported "Proposed Fact A". Obama responds by saying "That's just not true." McCain then responds, "It is true." And this happens in the opposite direction as well. How do we know who's telling the truth??? Most of us, I assume, believe the candidate that we are currently supporting. It's a he-said/he-said game. Some issues are verifiable. Did the candidate vote for or against an issue? That can be looked up in the voting records of the Senate.

Sometimes the candidates say the same thing...with completely opposite words and connotations. Obama says that our corporations pay relatively low taxes compared to other countries' corporations. McCain says our corporations are charged higher tax rates than almost any other country's corporations. At first look this looks like someone is lying. Look a bit deeper and they can both be true. The US REVENUE from corporate taxes is relatively low, yet the tax RATE is relatively high. This is an instance where the candidates frustrate us with seemingly different facts, but are both telling the truth.

Many of the claims both of the candidates make are difficult to verify. How is the common citizen supposed to check the validity of a claim that "My tax plan will be able to pay for all of these programs"? Even the candidates are using estimates. The common person is generally not interested in the specifics, but even if they are, it's nearly impossible to follow all of the numbers to a firm conclusion.

In this scenario voters are simply left to trusting candidates, campaign managers, or the media, all three of which have given us little reason to trust them. What we need are candidates, campaigns, and media members that are truly aspiring to tell the truth. Possibly most importantly we need media members who vigilantly report facts with disregard to the good or bad implications of those facts. Our society is over-saturated with "opinion-news" and editorials. Meanwhile we are left with a dearth of simple news reporting.

Until these three demographics (politicians, campaigns, media) show legitimate integrity, the American people will continue in their cynicism toward politics.