Truth or consequences
By Lisa Fabrizio
web posted January 10, 2011
Two thousand years ago, one man said to another, "For this I was born and for this I came into the world; to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." The second man responded: "What is truth?"
Though forgiven for his perfidy by the man he condemned to death, Pontius Pilate's question retains its earth-shaking relevance through the long centuries, because it marks the difference between those who would hear the truth and act on it, and those who close their ears to its message of pure peace and justice. And for those millions who have lived for the truth--and died for it--down through the ages, adherence to it in all walks of life has been paramount to the pursuit of human happiness.
There is moral truth, which most in this country used to believe arose out of the Ten Commandments; given by God to his chosen people and brought to perfection by his Son. These unambiguous laws, were they lived to the fullest by any society, could not help to produce peace and harmony among men. It has been the blessed lot of the United States for most of her history, to conform her code of justice to their dictates, thus ensuring domestic tranquility.
There are political truths, the worst abuses of which, under the current administration, are all too apparent and painful to witness. There is, of course, the old saying about power corrupting, but I prefer this quote from John Adams, which could serve as an accurate description of the liberal exercise of same: "Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service, when it is violating all His laws."
There are even scientific truths, which in the past referred to those obtained using the scientific method, which Webster defines as "mathematical and experimental techniques employed in the natural sciences; more specifically, techniques used in the construction and testing of scientific hypotheses." In other words, those which have been proven via Q.E.D., and are not just theories. Of course, there are those of us who believe that science is merely God's way of explaining himself to us, but that notion is deemed as entirely unscientific by our lettered betters.
And there are also American truths, those which made this a great nation and a beacon of freedom for the world. Primary among these was an imperative faith in and allegiance to our Constitution, the oldest operating governing document on the Earth, and a model for countries across the globe to emulate. Also once accepted as a unique American truth was the notion that our country was blessed by Providence; call it Manifest Destiny, American Exceptionalism or the Shining City on a Hill, Americans once believed in the goodness of America.
Those days however seem long past. We have so abrogated moral truth in favor of a relativism where everyone is in possession of their own set of truths, that one shudders to think what weight oaths in court testimony will bear in the coming years. The rule of law cannot survive without truth.
We have let scientific truth become so muddled, that mere and basically unsupported theories are taught as gospel to our children in public schools. The notion of real science is so far gone that, oddly enough, it has virtually been replaced by an almost worshipful belief in Earth itself as a deity; a return to paganism. Science cannot be championed or used for the benefit of mankind without truth.
There is so little left of American truth in America, that one can hardly recognizer her sometimes. The will of the people has been ignored in favor of an out of control court system and unelected czars. While reverence for our Constitution is considered so out of the mainstream, that its mere reading on the floor of the House of Representatives has engendered controversy and disdain.
A great nation, despite the virtuous underpinning of its founding, cannot withstand the perversion of truth at any level. A house once built on truth, divided against itself, cannot stand. But don't take my word for it; listen to the Father of our Country:
No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass.
Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at mailbox@lisafab.com.