Truth, honesty and objectivity as American Values.

I am trying, as I have said from the beginning in this series, to find a common ground, to find and articulate the core values which we all share, which unify us as Americans.

This week I hope to look at the value of truth, honesty, and objectivity of inquiry as a true bedrock American value, and to ask whether that value is being well served by the current administration.

In the introductory post to this blog, “Come Home America” (scroll down later if you would, or click the link on the side bar), I listed what I thought were seven truly “core” American values. Fairness, rule of law, and so on.

As I phrased this value when I first started this blog: 

“We value truth, honesty, and also intellectual honesty. We don’t like it when politicians, scientists, public servants, the press, or anyone bends, slants or compromises facts, and the truth to fit their own private opinions and agendas. We may not all agree on what is true, but we value the honest pursuit of truth. We value a free exchange of ideas in a fair, open and available intellectual public square.

Is truth really an American Value?

The Father of our Country was well famed to be a truth teller. There is an apocryphal tale of George Washington telling his father “I cannot tell a lie” about cutting down his favorite cherry true, even when that inconvenient truth was likely to cost him a thrashing. That tale may or may not be 100% historically accurate,  still the core American value that such a story, even if it is myth represents is, I believe, a core American belief and value, the telling of truth even when inconvenient. 

Adam Schiff stated this hypothesis well, when he said, “America believes in a thing called truth. She does not believe we are entitled to our own alternate facts. She recoils at those who spread pernicious falsehoods. To her, truth matters. There is nothing more corrosive to a democracy than the idea that there is not truth”. We believe, in Biblical terms, that “Thou shalt not bear false witness” .

The United States Information Agency was established in 1953, at the height of the cold war, as a ‘full service public relations agency”, to articulate American values in “understanding, informing and influencing” foreign publics regarding the United states, and its long term director lists “directness/openness/honesty” as one of the American core values.

Recent reports of American values find that the majority think that truth is not over-rated. A very small minority, fewer than one in five think “lying is the American way”. Pew Research Center found that half of America now believes that news is “made up” and two thirds of us believe this phenomena damages faith in American government. More than half see it as detrimental to our confidence in each other.  And now about half view responsibility for made up news as our government, about half view it as the responsibility of activists. While only about a third think news is made up by journalists, over half see it as one of journalisms responsibility to reduce misinformation.

If really an American Value, is that value well served by our current administration?

One wonders.

It does not take much digging to determine whether the current administration has continued its desire to articulate ‘alternative facts’, near 25, 000 of them have been detailed.

Now, I am not going to dwell on the multiplicity of small, relatively inconsequential lies. It doesn’t really matter if the crowd size is grossly exaggerated at an inauguration, or even that the photographs were doctored. It doesn’t really matter that the ‘wall’ is not really being built,  or that Mexico was never going to pay for it, or even that he later lied about having claimed it in the first place.

It is a little strange, silly and self – serving when he says that the ‘green new deal’ envisions ‘knocking down all the buildings in Manhattan’. It is certainly a little more dangerous to insist with no evidence on the notion that central American governments are “sending the tough gang members, the real killers” to the US, but that fits into his overall anti-immigrant rhetoric and might be seen, generously, as symbolic rather than a real claim.It is certainly self-serving, although geo-politically and numerically inaccurate to claim that Saudi Arabia is buying $450 billion of arm sales. But much more threatening to our democracy to claim, without evidence,  or credible allegations that there is widespread voter fraud in Florida or California. 

These are among a multiplicity of ‘alternative facts’ cited by Donald Trump, in the most part to shine a positive, rosy, if exaggerated or “alternative” light on the perceived threats in the world and his actions to save us from them. Not all are massive, or life changing, some relatively trivial. It probably is not damaging to US security, for example, that when he says that Mar-a- Lago was built as a Southern White House”. Many of the ‘alternative facts’ are probably, in and of themselves, not so newsworthy,  and some, such as the Mar a Lago jibe could be called light banter.

Let us just look at a few, though, which are particularly concerning, particularly troubling. 

On the economy, for example, Trump did not, pre-pandemic at least, need to exaggerate his own accomplishments, nor to try to trash President Obama’s. But he did. During his most recent State of the Union address,  for example,  Trump referred to the prior administration as “years of economic decay, …jobless recovery…depletion of American wealth, a mentality of American decline and the downsizing of American destiny”.

Trump’s press secretary later said “President Trump reversed the floundering Obama/ Biden economy. Obama and Biden orchestrated the worse economic recovery in modern history….Democrats seek to take credit for the Trump economy”.

Really? Trump wouldn’t have needed to lie, or to condemn his predecessor in office, simply because up until the debacle of the Corona Virus pandemic, at least, things were humming along decently well. But Trump had to insist that this was “the best economy in US history”.

In fact, the GDP grew decently at 2.4 % in 2017, 2.9 in 2018, and 2.3 in 2019. Not trivial, and, yes, better than the average growth during Obama’s first term. But not the best economy ever. Not better than in President Clintons term, when it grew 4.5, 4.5 and 4.7 percent respectively in the last three years. If memory serves me, President Clinton was a democrat. 

Still Trumps growth was, at least pre-pandemic ,decent. It was better than the overall under George W. Bush.  But it was not as high as in the years 1962 to 1966 when it ranged from 4.4 to 6.6 under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Remind me, were they…democrats? In fact the following graph shows the average GDP per president.

GDP growth under Trump (pre-pandemic) can be seen to be decent. Yes, better than Obama, or either Bush, better than under Ford.  But not as good as under Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Clinton, or even Jimmy Carter, (four out of five Democrats). So why call it “the best economy ever”? It isn’t. That is ….an ‘alternative fact’. This is a lie.

No more jobless recoveries? Really?The attached graph shows job growth for the years 2011 through 2019, the last six years of Obama’s presidency and the first three of Trump’s. 

The best year of growth in those years occurred during Obama’s tenure. Job growth certainly did not fall off in the Trump years, as the trendline shows, it stayed, well, about the same. Why call Obama’s years a “jobless recovery”? That is clearly a bald faced – well, let’s just call it an “alternative fact”. As a matter of fact, the much touted (pre-pandemic) unemployment was quite good. Not the best in history, though. That was in the Eisenhower administration at 2.5 %.

But, let’s look at it in context of the Obama years. 

In fact it can be readily seen that the unemployment rate, coming steadily down under Obama, continued to do so in the pre-pandemic Trump years. So why does Trump have to lie about it? He could tout his economic success, which would be truth, without trashing Obama’s, which makes it a lie.

The stock market has certainly accelerated. I suppose when you give a huge tax break to those in a position to put their money in the stock market it will do that. But it did not improve faster than under the Obama years. The following graph shows S&P improvement in both administrations.

And the following, the growth in the Dow Jones industrial average.

In short, while there is nothing wrong with Donald Trump feeling good about, and taking credit for a continuation of a very long trend of improving GDP, improving employment, and improving Stock Market values, it becomes an ‘alternative fact’ when he asserts, as he and his mouthpieces so often have, that he has the greatest economy ever or that he has rescued the economy or that his predecessor economy was a shambles. 

Alternative fact? No, it’s a lie. It’s a big lie, and with every repetition of the big lie by the head of government, lying becomes accepted. It becomes the norm. And while it is “never appropriate to compare someone to ‘you know who’, it has been said by someone whom one would not wish as a role model that “If you tell a like big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.

There is perhaps nothing more crucial for a leader than to tell the truth about threats to the national security. True, details of operations in action are secret. It would not have been expected for FDR to have given the details of the Normandy invasion, or for Obama to announce that he was planning a raid on Bin Laden in Pakistan. However if FDR had said that we had the Axis ‘totally under control’ during the first weeks of 1942, or Kennedy had claimed the Bay of Pigs as a spectacular success, we would have thought them ill serving both the country, and, to my point today, ill serving the truth we expect from our leaders. 

During the six months during which more Americans have been lost than in WWI, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan together,  Trump has said, “We have it totally under control” (we didn’t), that we had “pretty much shut it down coming from China” (we hadn’t), that “by April it goes miraculously away” (it didn’t), that “people are recovering and it was actually less” (not actually),  that it was “very much under control in the USA” (never was), that “within a couple of days it is going to be down to close to zero” ( soon after 1000 deaths a day in NYC alone), that it was the democrats “new hoax” (not such a funny hoax), that the “Swine flu where nearly 13,000 people died was poorly handled”,(!) that “anybody who wants a test can get a test” (not even true now, let alone on March 6 when it was said). He said “wouldn’t it be great to have all of the Churches full” on Easter (consider the implications).

On face masks, he said “It’s going to be, really, a voluntary thing. You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it, and that’s okay. It may be good. Probably will. They’re making a recommendation. It’s only a recommendation”.

I will not belabor this point any further, it is tragically too well known to everyone. My major point is not to review the (mis)handling of the worst threat to our national security , and the costliest loss of life since the second world war, but rather to continue to ask whether the statements made by this administration are more in keeping with real facts, or with alternative facts. 

Only 28% of Americans say they have a lot of trust in what the president says about the pandemic.

Still, those of our nation who support President Trump could still defend him. The ‘little white lies’ about things like crowd sizes mean little from a known and celebrated showman, it is just part of the act. The continual bragging about your economy and denigrating your predecessors? Well, economics is an arcane field, there are multiple different indicators and measures, perhaps one could in some semblance of good faith, ignore some, elevate others, exaggerate a bit around the edges, make a claim for effect and still not really be “dishonest”. As far as the pandemic, well, no one had a crystal ball, perhaps he is just looking at the bright side.

The area in which the misrepresentation of fact is truly corrosive to our democracy is where it touches directly upon those instruments of our society which are intended, designed, built and maintained to monitor, regulate and enforce our rule of law and the legitimacy of our government. There is reason why it is illegeal to lie about elections, or to lie to the FBI, or to lie to congress. Such lies subvert the very basis of our democracy.

Calling the Russia investigation a “hoax” when all of the US intelligence agencies found systemic and pervasive attempts by Russia to subvert our election for your own advantage – that is not being completely honest with the American people. Saying that the Mueller report exonerates the president, when in fact that conclusion is generous to a fault, the fault being obstruction (read the original report if you don’t agree, and compare it to Barr’s statement. I have, word for word) is not being honest, as was his role, it is misrepresenting an incredibly important conclusion to your bosses liking. In his role as the supposed chief law enforcement officer, that is a lie.

Saying your opponent wants to defund the police when he has said the opposite is a lie. Saying you don’t accept foreign help in your election when in fact you use the nations arsenal to coerce it are lies. Saying your opponent will “hurt God” when he is the only church goer between you, those representations are not true. If we look within at what feels like objective representation, truth, honesty, we know those are not. Most of us could not put our hand on a Bible to assert any of the things Donald Trump says about his political opponents – they are, essentially, mostly lies.

In subverting public trust in both media and normative institutions, calling the media “absolute scum”, “fake news”, “totally dishonest people” and “the enemy of the people”, in subverting the normative non-political functioning of government as the “dep state”, in subverting the trust in public scientific sources and authorities, such as advocating drugs when not deemed safe, the current administration has undermined the very notion of objective truth. Trust in the government has become partisan, not national. Majorities find declining trust in American leaders, and each other, and a majority also find that an impediment to solving our nations problems. A majority think that President Trump is someone who lies. Two thirds believe that foreign leaders have less trust in the US since Trump became president. 

Perhaps most importantly, the habit of misrepresenting the truth to the point of non-recognizability has pervaded the way we talk to either about the issues and the politicians.

I recently received a Facebook meme from a friend. It showed President and Michelle Obama smiling, and said “Obama – 8 years and 3 accomplishments. Making school lunches inedible, insurance unaffordable, and police lives unimportant”.

Kind of catchy tune, I can see how it would feel good to a Trump supporter to pass on. But is does it really as an example of our American ideal of truth?

Let’s just take a very brief look. School lunches inedible? 

True, Michelle Obama made it a focus of her tenure as first lady to improve the nutritional value of school lunches. Specifically, she worked to change standards to look for daily fruits and vegetables, whole grain rich foods, low fat dairy and reduction of fats in general. And, while studies showed the lunches were healthier, truth be told, some students found their lunches “yucky”. 

While obesity rates are soaring, and children’s obesity is recognized as a national health problem, and while the health risks of obesity are well known and rising, I’ll give it to you those who object to this concern for health, some kids don’t like to eat their vegetables.  Bad leadership to make them try, though? Hmm.

Health insurance  unaffordable?

Well, studies showed both increased access to health care and report of good health, that it decreased the chances of being uninsured, and, in fact, while premiums for some plans, especially the more expansive ones did rise, the rise in premiums overall was less than it had been in prior years.

Finally, and this one perhaps the most damning because it is not only false but inflammatory, making “police lives unimportant”. 

Here is a sampling of what President Obama said at a funeral for five fallen  police officers in Dallas.

“Your work and the work of police officers across the country is like no other. From the moment you put on that uniform, you have answered a call that at any moment, even in the briefest interaction, may but your life in harm’s way. Like police officers across the country, these man and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves. The reward comes in knowing that our entire way of life in America depends on the rule of law, that the maintenance of that law is a hard and daily labor. These men, this department, this is the America I know. We know that the overwhelming majority of police officers to an incredibly hard and dangerous job fairly and professionally. They are deserving of our respect and not our scorn. Hope does not arise by putting  our fellow man down, it is found by lifting others up. And that’s what I take away from the lives of these outstanding men. We cannot match the sacrifices made by Officers Zamarippa, and Ahrens, Krol, Smith and Thompson, but surely we can try to match their sense of service. We cannot match their courage, but we can strive to match their devotion” . 

So the catchy little meme about the “3 accomplishments of Obama’s 8 years”? Alternative facts. Not the truth. Friends, these are not what we grew up to represent as true. You may not have taken the time research it or reflect upon it, but you are, perhaps unwittingly, and in the unfortunately common practice of the administration you support – passing along flat out lies.

So finally, after investigating the multiple claims, assertions, implications, representations coming from the current administration, claims ranging from the size of the crowds at the inauguration or the present rallies, claims about the state of the economy, the prior economy, the pandemic and its end, statements about Obama’s statements about the police, the history of Mar-a-lago, and the health of school lunches included, in reflecting upon the way the current cabinet subverts the truth to defend the chief executive, in how we have come to talk about political questions to each other, asserting not just our own opinions but our own facts, let’s just go back to the basic question.

Are truth, honesty, the effort to report facts objectively to the population American values? Does the present administrations relationship to the truth, to objectivity, to honesty make you more or less likely to believe in the truth telling of the American government? Has this American value been well served these three and a half years? Do you think another four would serve it better?

We share American values. One of them is that we respect the truth. If one shares the American value of respect for the truth, the current administration does not represent your American values.

Come home America. Come back to we really are.