Today's Term is -- "Fact Checker"

I woke up this morning and turned on the laptop to start my morning routine. Generally, the first thing I like to do is check e-mail, see the news of the world from overnight and get a heads-up on the weather forecast for the day.

My first site of choice is always www.yahoo.com, and today’s headline made me realize how much times have changed. It read:

“Fact Check: the Final Presidential Debate”

Are either of these candidates telling the truth? Not
 as often as we should expect, says many fact checkers

It’s not breaking news that the third and final, presidential debate was held last night. Surely, about 60 million people watched it, if the ratings of the previous pair of debates held up.  During the recent presidential cycles, certain terms have entered the lexicon of our English language. A couple of decades ago, we learned that a spin doctor was more than one of the guys from the quirky 90’s group that liked to sing about Superman. Later, the exit poll became a popular term. For this election, our new term is fact checker.

Actually, I like the idea that the proverbial “Big Brother” is now overseeing the debates and reporting back to the public of the blow-by-blow recap of the truthfulness of each candidate’s statements. It is a much needed public service and is long overdue.

My problem is – how did we come to this?

Our public figures are beginning to develop under a cloud of gray. Do singers lip sync? Is the home run hitter taking steroids? Are those breasts real or fake? Are the reality shows staged? What is Kim Kardashian’s talent?

Amazingly, part of a celebrity’s persona is now built on the mystery behind the person. This is more astounding in the age of You Tube and Twitter where we can reach out and “touch” our heroes. Politicians have now grown to fall into the category of “mystery person.”

In other words, they lie. Profusely. We know they lie, they know they lie, their handlers know they lie, the moderator knows they lie, but now, it’s OK, and acceptable.

Regardless of one’s political persuasion, I hope that more people are seeing what I am – which is – our current presidential candidates, Gov. Romney and President Obama, lie an awful lot. And we accept this. Perhaps we were numbed by the President Clinton “Monicagate” scandal, when after all was said and done, many people nodded and said, “Well, he lied to protect his family.” In other words, again, it’s OK.

It’s also shameful.

My wish is that many American citizens will take action. Please write to your Congressional officials, and demand that they tell the truth. If you meet the official in a public forum and get the opportunity to ask him/her a question, have a follow-up question ready which will make that person prove their first answer. If we continue to lower our expectations for public officials, the outcome will never change. It’s like the old saying ...”I feel like a mushroom. Everybody keeps me in the dark and feeds me (manure).”

Get out of the dark.

It’s days like this that I miss Ross Perot’s campaign of 1992.