Politicians should rededicate selves to telling the truth (like Carter)

[NVMojo]

01/18/2006

This is hard to believe, but an awesome 30 years have passed since a major politician ran on a clearly stated platform of not lying.
“I will not lie to the American people,” Jimmy Carter said as he set out to win the Democratic nomination for president in 1976.
As soon as he spoke, hordes of reporters and rival politicians gathered to prove Carter was not above lying. (Yes, folks, your humble correspondent was a charter member of the Carter May Lie Club.) In the end, “I will not lie to you” became a hallmark of Carter’s successful campaign.
Carter’s presidency (1977-1981) generally receives poor historical reviews, though he put in place several economic and defense policies that later served the nation well. He also avoided war. Carter has turned out to be the highest-achieving ex-president in history, performing good deeds worldwide. Carter’s recent book, “Our Endangered Values,” is on target in dealing with the threat of religious extremism and the blurring of the lines between conservative government and radical churches. Of the stack of volumes he has written since leaving office, “Endangered Values” may be his best.

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http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=36&url_article_id=10833&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

[Alonzo Fyfe]

1. Not just politicians

Politicians are not the only ones who need to adopt a clearly stated platform of not lying.

Not only "not lying", but of "not forgetting to do the reasearch needed to defend the conclusion that what one says is true," and "not instantly accepting as true anything that supports what's favorite conclusion, and not instantly rejecting as false whatever contradicts one's favorite conclusion."

Because there is far too much of this, not just among politicians.

Imagine a society whose citizens take intellectual integrity seriously, consider truth to be a value, and classifies the person who'se major concern is with scoring rhetorical points on the same level as the drunk driver and other reckless individuals.

Just a thought.

Alonzo Fyfe
Atheist Ethicist Blog

[medeak]

2. Heard David Brooks today

(say what you will about him)

but he DID say the only congressmen he ever met who was completely truthful was Biden.

(who has admitted he's running for pres again)

[NVMojo]

3. ...and that's the truth! ;-)