The Alternative

Truth or consequences
 
     I lied. I can’t even remember about what, but I was caught and my dad gave me a short lecture.
     It went like this: “The reason to never lie is a totally selfish one. Once you lie you may have to tell a hundred other lies in order to cover up the original lie. No one is smart enough to do that.”
     When Jesus said in John 8:32, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” He was speaking of His own other worldliness. But those words ring true in all aspects of life.
     If we put on a front in dealing with other people, we are enslaved to that front until we get to know each other better. We may be wasting precious time associating with people we don’t enjoy or share interests.
     To speak an uncomfortable truth and end a friendship that would never get off the ground anyway, turns an unpleasant situation positive.
     The principle of truth is all-encompassing. The short term pain of the truth can shorten long term pain considerably. For instance, if Lyndon B. Johnson had been a truthful president, untold lives could have been saved by an early admission of defeat in Vietnam. What Johnson knew and didn’t reveal was exposed in a biography by Robert Dallek in 1998. As early as 1965 LBJ said, “What the hell is Vietnam worth to me? ...What is it worth to this country?” Lyndon Johnson knew the war was futile and yet sent 30,000 Americans to their deaths.
     Today we have former Sen. Bob Graham. He has been fighting to have the whole congressional review of the 9/11 attacks made public at the request of family members of the victims. Mr. Graham co-authored the report in 2002. The parts of the report kept secret by our government reportedly refer to involvement by our so-called ally, Saudi Arabia, in the attacks.
     The Middle East is a huge mess that takes too much effort for lazy people to comprehend. The Syrian and Iranian governments are Shiite. The Saudis, ISIS and al Qaeda are Sunni. Boundaries were drawn by England and France after WWI in order to exploit oil, ignoring different cultures and religions that would ordinarily put like-minded people together. The United States considers Saudi Arabia an ally, despite their dogmatic and cruel culture that is nearly polar opposite of what America stands for. This only hints at the complexity that makes our intrusive foreign policy look foolish.
     Being an ally should be a two-way street. With the impossibility of verification of treaties, why bother with them at all? They dilute our ability to be strong militarily by making assumptions based on bad information.
     Since it is impossible to know the truth about Middle Eastern politics and even our government’s relationships there, I think it would be wise to take a lesson from one of the most evil presidents we’ve ever had, Lyndon Johnson. No action is better than any action when based on lies and speculation. How do we take sides in conflicts that don’t have a good side? Taking sides will always make the other side our enemy. Defending “U.S. interests” or useless allies, dilutes our ability to actually defend the United States.
     If I’m labeled a “truther” for wanting to know what is in a report on the most horrific terrorist attack in American history, so be it. Our reaction to the 9/11 attacks has been way more destructive than the attacks themselves and we don’t even know the whole story. What contributions could have been made by the people our politicians sent abroad to die? What could $2 trillion have done for our country if left in the private sector instead of squandered on foreign adventurism?
     Our government has not kept its story straight. The truth could have set us free of a $2 trillion debt and much death and destruction. Let’s learn from the past. The opposite of truther is liar.
 
     Contact me at 4selfgovernment@gmail.com or visit my website at www.alternativebyfritz.com. Any input is greatly appreciated.