Can These Ever Balance?
November 14, 2008
Further in the afterglow
of the 2008 Presidential Election I have been reflecting back over certain
observable phenomena. Today’s picture speaks to my concerns regarding
campaign rhetoric. Sometimes as a citizen it is difficult to determine
what is true with regard to our scale above. Regardless, often
we must be able to ferret out what is actually said by the candidate or
issue of our inclination versus the opposing side.
Certainly either side
of a given issue will have plenty to say about the opposite side because
the goal is to contrast one view to the other so that the electorate can
differentiate between the two sides. Very often one polar opponent
will distort the converse view by varying degrees.
Unfortunately this is
all too true when dealing with issues based on world view or moral grounds.
To advance their version of a country ruled by religious principles Evangelicals
often distort the truth. As I outlined in yesterday’s entry
on the subject of freedom of religion they attempt
to create a nexus between the actual Constitution and the framers’ intent
and this is exemplified by the ubiquitous battle over someone’s right to
not witness public displays of religious symbols,
As for my case in point,
during the just past election, both Senator Obama and Biden sat for individual
interviews. Each of them stated emphatically that in their personal
religious views abortion was fundamentally wrong. They stated in
no uncertain terms that as a personal matter based on their faith they
were diametrically opposed to abortion. Their separate interviews
revealed that individually each of them was quite resolute with regard
for their Biblical world view.
However, in nearly the
same breath they also stated that their view of the issue as Christians
should by no means be enforced on anyone else because that would be a clear
violation of the 1st Amendment. Rather they indicated that more emphasis
was needed on education, counseling and prevention, and went on to make
a strong case for adoption and a simplification of adoption methods.
It should be noted that both men are considered as experts in the area
of Constitutional Law. Additionally, Senator Obama was the President
of the Harvard Law Review and was a Professor of Constitutional Law at
the University of Chicago.
Concomitantly the message
from the starboard side of American politics (inhabited with an assortment
of ideologues) was to create and present attack advertising on behalf of
John McCain that set out to label Obama and Biden as abortionists.
I wish I had a dollar for each person that has repeated that mantra to
me but have been unable to cite Obama and Biden’s actual statements as
I summarized in the preceding paragraph.
The problem then is that
political messages received are blindly accepted as truth by the “faithful”.
The only way for any of us to find the balance between the facts and political
goals is to be persistent and conduct the necessary due
diligence (entry on November 11, 2008). Then as an erudite
electorate we should never assume that the case is true that is being presented
by our political party, church, religious affiliation, or any other group
we identify with.
Regardless of your politics
or religion always remember that the ideologue(s) will do always do exactly
what it takes to win even if it means blurring or deliberately distorting
the truth in favor of their political blitzkrieg.
