When my congressional representative, Mark Meadows, was being considered for Chief of Staff last week, in spite of all the excitement that must have percolated to the top of his consciousness, he told somebody to cleanse his Wikipedia web page. What was the offending information? For many years he had let it be known that he had a Bachelor of Arts degree in “Business Management” from University of South Florida. USF does not have such a degree.
For some reason the change to his Wikipedia page caught the attention of the Tampa Bay Times and their article has been published in the Asheboro Courier-Times but it does not appear here in the Asheville Citizen Times. Additionally, the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives changed their information after the Tampa Bay Times contacted the office of Mark Meadows.
A public shaming or reprimand is needed when our elected representatives choose to participate in half truths or lies. When I was in sixth grade I was surprisingly elected to be class president. Not of the entire school but just of my classroom. I was late on one of my papers and my teacher, Mr Schaffer, took me outside the classroom and told me I would have to be replaced as class president because I didn’t meet his standards for integrity, commitment and setting an example for the rest of the class. We went back inside and he announced this to the class and I was deeply embarrassed. I filed this away with other events in line with keeping my word and being truthful. Somewhere I wish those principles public shaming still applied to our representatives in government.
I sure would like for there to be some repercussions, similar to what happened to me at an early age, for his allowing incorrect information to be out in the public sphere. I also know that this is small potatoes compared to what is happening at the White House. Just another Republican liar caught in embellishing his resume.
