The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth
It is necessary to absorb and critically examine what candidates say, but let's not neglect what they fail to say.
[Previous published at the Gaithersburg Patch Website.]
“Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” Witnesses appearing before courts in the United States are required to so swear or affirm. Politicians are on their honor to do the same, but how often do they?
Do they always “tell the truth?” I suspect so, but is it always “nothing but the truth?” I’ll leave that decision to you, perhaps with assistance from Politifact or Factcheck.org. Let’s examine an example of violations of statements of “the whole truth,” Congressman Delaney’s “Open Our Democracy Act,” by reviewing the bill and his September 2, 2014 Washington Post Op Ed “ The Solution to Fixing Dysfunction in Congress.”
1. [From Section 3] …”the candidate shall have the option of declaring a political party preference, and the preference chosen (if any) shall accompany the candidate’s name on the ballot for the election for such office. …The selection of a party preference by a candidate under subsection (a) shall not constitute or imply endorsement of the candidate by the party designated, and no candidate in a general election shall be deemed the official candidate of any party by virtue of his or her selection in the primary.”
This would allow one party to flood the open primary with candidates “preferring” to be designated as members of an opposition party in an effort to dilute the votes given to the opposition party’s chosen candidate.
2. [From Section 5] “For purposes of any law relating to Federal employment, the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in 2016 and each even-numbered year thereafter shall be treated in the same manner as a legal public holiday described in section 6103 of title 5, United States Code. … It is the sense of Congress that private employers in the United States should give their employees a day off on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in 2016 and each even-numbered year thereafter to enable the employees to cast votes in the elections held on that day.”
In other words, this would be deemed a mandatory day off from work for Federal employees only, with private employers having the option to forgo the need to allow their employees the day off to vote.
3. [From Section 6] “The Comptroller General shall conduct a study of the feasibility and desirability of enacting national standards and criteria for Congressional redistricting.”
Studies have already been done (in fact, the Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham described one in his “ Wonkblog”). It’s time to reach the end of the path of “study” and decide on one of the proven algorithms for creating compact House districts all over the country.
The “whole truth” is not present from either the text of the bill or the Congressman’s Op Ed piece. Unfortunately, the “whole truth” may be missing from a majority of candidates’ statements in this election cycle. Please recognize when you are not being told “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and when you feel comfortable measuring the candidates against this standard, do the same for video commentators, newspaper and magazine columnists and internet bloggers, including this one!
George Gluck
Green Party Candidate for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District (2014)