If you know me, either personally or through my writing, you know that I have an intense commitment to truth.  Either things are true, or they are not true; any other view is irrational.  Those who deny absolutes live in denial, the most likely option, or they are insane.  To make any kind of sense of the world or its people, we need to know what is true.  Unfortunately, those whose job it should be to help us have decided that their job is to control us by manipulating information.  Such people can be found in several places:  the media, politics, and schools.

    Because of the first, those who supposedly report news in print an broadcast media, many don't really know what is going on.  They are ignorant of fact, truth, and reality; such ignorance is dangerous and must go.  This subject holds some degree of personal interest for me because I learned to report news, when objectivity and impartial presentation were the absolute norm.  I have written for newspaper and for radio, where I broadcast the news.  I find the present lack of principle and, therefore, credibility pathetic and harmful.  People must recognize the problem and demand a restoration of appropriate standards of reporting.

    The second group of people who seek to confuse by dishonesty are generally recognized, so much so that "honest politician" is practically an oxymoron.  What troubles me is the willingness or gullibility of those who ignore the half truths and other lies of a Barack Obama or any other candidate they prefer.  Elections offer us less choice and seem to limit our influence over dishonesty, but I suspect we get it because we tolerate it.  Consider Bill Clinton, parsing words like "is" to rationalize his flagrant deceit; it cost him his freedom to practice law, and yet people still admire him.  Perhaps that shows just how deeply our national character has slipped.

    The third group, like the others, ought to be people we may trust.  The difficulty here is that many are not so much dishonest and deceived themselves.  What an irony it is that those who teach have been mislead by those who have taught them.  I have gained a great deal of disheartening insight into the government-controlled system of schools, overshadowed by all manner of sociological mandates and burdened by a surfeit of highly paid bureaucratic agencies and administrators, none of whom teach.  Today, I learned why, and I will write more when I have digested what I have discovered.  For now, you might check out John Taylor Gatto, a recognized New York City and New York State "teacher of the year" and author of The Underground History of American Education, which you can read on his web site.  I highly recommend his American Education History Tour, which takes only a few minutes to take.  I also listened to a recording of his appearance on a radio program; I think it's worth the time investment, especially if you are a parent or a teacher.  One professor of education has called his books "scathing" and "one-sided and hyperbolic, [but] not inaccurate," a rather telling observation.

    How long can our nation and culture survive this deluge of dishonesty?  Why do we tolerate people who mislead us and, by doing so, lead us only God knows where?  Gatto might say that we are the victims of a decades long effort to make us ignorant and biddable, so that the movers and shakers behind the scenes, what some call the "shadow government" can take us into "a new world order."  He doesn't call it a conspiracy.  As one who believes in God and in His and our adversary, I could see a more "devilish" plan.  Regardless, to know is to gain power to do.  We don't have to let other mislead or mis-lead us.  We have the brains and, as yet, the liberty to take charge of the direction of our lives, to liberate the lives of the next generations, and restore truth to our nearly truth-less society.  The question is "Will we?"