“Until the late nineteenth century the question of woman’s ability to profit from or even survive higher education was controversial. Vassar College opened in 1865 was often described by its first president as an experiment.… as late as 1871 an MD at Harvard Medical School published a book on the dangers of higher education for girls, he doubted the achievement was worth the cost from their psyche and procreative powers.”

From: Carl N Degler, In Search of Human Nature, Oxford University Press 1991

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People who excuse exaggerations, distortions, omissions and flat-out lies because all sides do it are wrong. Remember the oath: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” Do we the people have the right to expect our political leaders to tell the truth?

When leaders place party loyalty, commitments to donors and wing politics ahead of facts, and the people allow them to get away with it, the social health of our nation is endangered. Nothing threatens democracy more than a climate that tolerates dishonesty.

Now is a good time to remember and revere Peter Zenger, a German-American New York newspaper publisher who in 1734 was arrested and charged with “seditious libel,” on the authority of a royal governor whom he’d criticized. After eight months in prison, a jury acquitted Zenger because “a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved.”

Decisions by the people’s representatives, including the courts, in Washington, D.C., and state capitals impact our nation’s future as much as decisions made by generals in war. How would you feel if the military leaders in charge of your children misrepresented reconnaissance because it contradicted their party line? An officer who refused to work with all wings and the center of his or her army would be discharged.

One-Winged Birds Can’t Fly

National leadership is no party game. Political leaders outrank military leaders in America. Shouldn’t it worry us that so many of our political leaders are regularly accused of half-truths and omissions? Patriotic citizens need to spend more time visiting fact-checking websites, including those accused of favoring the “other side,” just to make sure they’re hearing the evidence.

Dostoyevsky wrote, “Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.” Too many sincere patriots are living in “like-minded echo chambers,” eager for the other side’s distortions to be exposed, yet ignoring exaggerations propagated by their own wing.

To whet your appetite for the truth, visit the Wikipedia site called List of Common Misconceptions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions. There, you’re sure to find something you believe that is wrong. And here’s a partial list of fact-checking sites: http://www.factcheck.org/, http://snopes.com/, http://www.politifact.com/.

While it’s difficult to determine the truth about complex issues facing humanity today, it’s a citizen’s duty to try.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton and Omar N. Bradley “were immensely ambitious.” So says The New York Times, reviewing the recently published summary of their relationship, “Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe,” by Jonathan W. Jordan. Like many politicians in Washington today, these three great generals disagreed frequently. But, as Jordan’s book describes, they worked together to win World War II in Europe. Their shared objectives took precedence over their personal perspectives.

In his review of Jordan’s book, Michael Korda writes, “… In the end, they somehow got it right, and managed to deploy America’s strength on the battlefield in a way that not only defeated, but destroyed, an army that was in some respects better equipped, better trained, undoubtedly more battle hardened and, until the very end, motivated by a degree of fanaticism that went beyond mere dedication to country.”

Civilization’s Challenges

In 2011, the economic situation we find ourselves in resembles war. Tens of millions of people are suffering. The nation’s health is in jeopardy. More will suffer if our national credit rating becomes a casualty. The most tragic loss of all would be the premature death of the American dream.

Our national leadership is flawed, yet no more flawed than their constituents, the American people; no more flawed than the leaders of other peoples; no more flawed than the entire human constituency. Civilization’s challenges are not going away. A century of problems and solutions lie before us. What we hope is that our elected and appointed leaders find ways to minimize the damage and maximize the opportunities on behalf of the American people.

The Founding Fathers’ design of our government with a separation of powers presupposed that a spirit of compromise would encourage differing branches and factions to unify in the best interests of the American people. Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Montgomery and de Gaulle worked together because the situation they were appointed to deal with demanded it. Eisenhower was in command.

In Washington today, uncompromising politics is in command. Many of our government leaders – in the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the executive branch – are so committed to political dogma and their financial backers that they are unwilling to find common ground. But there will be no unconditional surrenders and no total victories. Let compromise be the order of the day.

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