TRUTH RECOVERY
Once Confucius had achieved some eminence, he sought diligently to be put in charge of a state, in the belief that his ethical principles, if applied to government, would produce a well-ordered
society. He never had that opportunity. The rulers of his day were no more interested in
ending corruption than are ours today.
Once a disciple asked C. what would be his first order of business, if he was in charge of the government. "The rectification of names," he replied immediately. "Meaning?" asked the baffled student. "Truth in labeling" was the essence of the answer. Everything in effective government depends on honesty and clarity in information, so there is no misunderstanding. Without plain and honest speaking, all is confusion, he added. We have lots of confusion today.
We see that all about us, in food labeling, as well as political spinning. "Whole wheat"
bread (unless 100%) is typically refined (white) flour with food coloring and just a dash of
actual whole grain. In politics, "it is reported" frequently introduces outright falsehood as
implied truth, as in "it has been reported that Saddam was buying uranium in Niger." It
does us absolutely no good to know what has been reported. We need to know what is
true! We spend $20 or $30 billion a year on the CIA to find out and tell us what is true.
When something known to be false is nevertheless presented as true in a State of the
Union address, great mischief and error result. We can understand Confucius' concern
for precision in speech.
It is common now in the press to speak of Mr. Bush as "the Commander in Chief." That,
too, is inaccurate speech that allows confusion and abuse. He is not my commander in
chief, nor is he yours, unless you are in the armed forces. The Constitution says that
the president is "commander in chief of the Army and the Navy." Period. A. Lincoln
understood that, and signed his name "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States." What difference does it make? Mr. Bush has ordered secret (illegal)
wire tapping, secret arrests, secret imprisonments and Lord knows what else secret,
under the erroneous (or misused) title, "commander in chief." It is time for that confusion
to be cleared away, and for congress to exercise close oversight of this runaway presidency,
lest the country go over the cliff along with it's Iraq policy.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Once Confucius had achieved some eminence, he sought diligently to be put in charge of a state, in the belief that his ethical principles, if applied to government, would produce a well-ordered
society. He never had that opportunity. The rulers of his day were no more interested in
ending corruption than are ours today.
Once a disciple asked C. what would be his first order of business, if he was in charge of the government. "The rectification of names," he replied immediately. "Meaning?" asked the baffled student. "Truth in labeling" was the essence of the answer. Everything in effective government depends on honesty and clarity in information, so there is no misunderstanding. Without plain and honest speaking, all is confusion, he added. We have lots of confusion today.
We see that all about us, in food labeling, as well as political spinning. "Whole wheat"
bread (unless 100%) is typically refined (white) flour with food coloring and just a dash of
actual whole grain. In politics, "it is reported" frequently introduces outright falsehood as
implied truth, as in "it has been reported that Saddam was buying uranium in Niger." It
does us absolutely no good to know what has been reported. We need to know what is
true! We spend $20 or $30 billion a year on the CIA to find out and tell us what is true.
When something known to be false is nevertheless presented as true in a State of the
Union address, great mischief and error result. We can understand Confucius' concern
for precision in speech.
It is common now in the press to speak of Mr. Bush as "the Commander in Chief." That,
too, is inaccurate speech that allows confusion and abuse. He is not my commander in
chief, nor is he yours, unless you are in the armed forces. The Constitution says that
the president is "commander in chief of the Army and the Navy." Period. A. Lincoln
understood that, and signed his name "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States." What difference does it make? Mr. Bush has ordered secret (illegal)
wire tapping, secret arrests, secret imprisonments and Lord knows what else secret,
under the erroneous (or misused) title, "commander in chief." It is time for that confusion
to be cleared away, and for congress to exercise close oversight of this runaway presidency,
lest the country go over the cliff along with it's Iraq policy.
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
posted by John Goodwin at
9:05 AM
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