Politicians’ bad habits infecting everyone
by Chris Taylor, managing editor

     Election Day and the spectacle afterwards have me thinking about lying.

     There are many people out there who say they hope that Gore doesn’t win because he is a liar and that they would vote for Bush because he is honest and reliable.

     First of all, Bush is a liar also. Most people have forgotten that when he was running for governor, he said he would not seek the office of the president.

     What is he doing right now? That is a lie.

     Now that doesn’t make Gore any more honest than Bush. He is a liar too.

     Both presidential candidates are politicians. As politicians, they are going to lie. Most of the people are willing to accept this assertion unless the candidate they don’t like lies. Then that candidate is immediately labeled a liar.

     The real problem seems to be that most people don’t place much emphasis on the truth. A lot of people and businesses lack credibility.

     A few weeks ago, I passed by a church that had a sign that read “repent now, only 90 days until the end of the world.”

     I was fascinated that not only was the end coming, but they knew the exact date. I decided I would pay a visit to this church.

     I went inside and immediately looked at the calendar of events for the church activities. There on the calendar was a date reserved for Easter services.

     I may be taking a remedial math course, but I can add. Ninety days is about three months. If it was the middle of October, then the world should end in the middle of January. But they were still planning Easter services in April.

     I had to wonder if they were not sure, or if it was just a contingency plan in case they were wrong.

     Either way it didn’t really matter to me, but it did bring up the issue of credibility. If a church is going to distort the truth and use scare tactics to get what it wants, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

     I am ashamed of the fact that so many people have no honor anymore.

     I can’t begin to imagine how many times I have been to a store and found that they won’t honor an advertised sale price. When that happens, I don’t shop there anymore. But tons of people take the abuse and keep on going back for more.

     We have congressional hearings on smoking, guns and violence in the media, but we never address the fact that we are a dishonest society now.

     It is a rare occurrence when someone takes responsibility for something he has done. Usually, the person passes the blame on and on until people forget just what the heck happened.

     It appears that many people don’t care about such trivial issues. They are fine with lying as long as the economy is still healthy.

     In my experience, there is nothing that will make you lose respect for authority faster than watching an authority figure lie.

     Think of the effect that watching a high-school principal flat out lie to someone will have on a bystander who knows he’s lying. It made me learn quickly that just because people have some type of authority, it doesn’t mean they have any morals.

     It’s even worse if someone observes a police officer who lies, repeatedly.

     Repeated observations of such incidents of dishonesty among those in authoritative positions will shake anyone’s faith in the system.

     We expect our authority figures to be fair and honest. And if we see that they don’t have to be and, even worse, nobody can make them be honest, we can become very nervous about trusting those in authority.

     Most people don’t like to hear these things, though. It shakes their belief in the system also.

     While many people are content to cover their ears and eyes and pretend that lying doesn’t exist, it doesn’t change the fact that it does.