PolitiFact Virginia[1]
recently released its verdict on Gov. Bob McDonnell’s news release issued on
March 14th: McDonnell’s press release, and the statements made within
it, can’t be verified. Hoorah for facts!
In the press release, McDonnell’s office stated, “Should the
show move forward as a series and continue taping in Virginia, it could mean an
annual economic impact for the region of up to $50,000,000.” Yes, that’s $50
million. And you know how the saying goes, ‘If it sounds too good to be true…’[2]
McDonnell’s office was speaking about a new drama titled “Company
Town,” a show about the lives and loves (blah, blah, blah) of individuals at
the Norfolk Navy Station. The pilot episode for the new drama is set to be filmed
in Hampton Roads.[3]
Sadly, there may have never been a time in the history of
Western politics when some politician in every generation inflated the numbers
to suit their political goals. The bad taste that’s left in my mouth after
hearing statements like the one above, however, doesn’t fade with the knowledge
that politicians in the West have been rotten liars and fabricators for
hundreds or thousands of years. It was just as wrong then as it is now.
If anything, we who call ourselves Americans, are supposed
to be more civilized than many of the generations who preceded our own. Doesn’t
honestly and integrity only increase with the growth and increasing complexity
of each civilization? Shouldn’t we, as the citizens of a republic, demand more integrity
from our elected officials?
It is scary to think that as our civilization has advanced,
so too have the morals and principles of our society been thrown aside in the
name of progress and consumer culture, the latter of which demands only your time
and your money while the former asks only for a forward thinking ‘spirit’.
Why Virginians and Americans more generally are not
thoroughly outraged by the lies and half-truths of the people we elect to
office is truly beyond any simple explanation. Or maybe the explanation is so
simple that it defies lengthy and deep considerations.
We have come to accept the notion that our political
representatives are liars, and bums, and cheats, and philanderers, almost
without exception and almost without the slightest hint of frustration or
concern.
Virtue is what founded our country and virtue is what will
sustain it, if we so choose. But if we continue to ignore the plain truth that
our political system has become rotten to the core and that fundamental changes
are required, the rot will only continue to spread, threatening much of what we
hold dear as Americans.
One lie, one half-truth, can be the initial spark that sets
the entire forest ablaze.
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