Working on the Truth Badge

First the quick kiddo news: The potty training continues. Katie has been in panties for two weeks. I must say, those tiny little princess or Dora panties are too cute, unless they’re dirty and then not so much, but still…She’s done really well so far.

Ethan is working on his first badge, the Bobcat badge. Apparently this badge is all about what you know: the Scout motto, the Scout promise, the Law of the Pack, a recipe for the perfect cheese soufflé, all the normal stuff.

Otherwise, it’s pretty quiet on the kid front.

There has been a lot to think about lately on the political front. I am a moderate in that I listen to all the mainstream ideas, try to seek unbiased facts and then make a decision about an issue. I think individuals of both of the major political sides probably have good points but my major thought lately has been how very disappointed I am that political debate as been replaced by rancor and outright dishonesty. We have some life-altering issues ahead of us and they are complicated enough to require careful analysis and thoughtful debate. So it only hurts us to have all the noise and outright lies – shame on you Sarah Palin, shame! -- replacing the fact-finding and conversation we should have.

Another problem is that anyone with a reasonable, open-minded, fact-based approach simply gets shouted down and ignored. So here’s a proposed solution: I wish the media would all get together and agree on one thing. I wish they would agree that they will only give air time or print space to politicians and commentators whose comments have been fact checked by a non-partisan, objective third party (like here and here). All others, no matter how prominent they are, would get no coverage. So if Senator Liar Liar Pants on Fire or Mr. I'll Say Any Slap-Ass Crazy Thing to Get Viewers for My Show holds a press conference to spread the lies or the nastiness, no one shows up. Well maybe there would be one guy there who thought it was an Amway sales meeting. Otherwise, they'd get crickets until they shaped up.

But sensational comments, no matter how ridiculous or dishonest or damaging, make news and get ratings, so this will never happen. However…since the media counts on us as consumers for ratings or sales, maybe we have the power to force them to care more about the truth. If we pool our efforts, I think we could turn this thing around. And why not follow the example of Cub Scouts like Ethan and reward our efforts with a badge? Let's call it a Truth badge. We'll start with memorizing a promise. Repeat after me:

• I will turn off any pundit or news or toss any publication whose news content regularly doesn’t stand up to non-partisan fact checks.
• I will hold all politicians accountable for the factual nature of their comments.
• I will refuse to vote for politicians who engage in fear-mongering and incivility.
• For politicians who frequently talk about their Christianity, I will ask them to account for how well they’ve upheld the Golden Rule in their political lives.

It will take some time for the news outlets and politicians to get what we’re doing – and extra credit goes to anyone who sends them an explanation -- but we can do it. Let’s show them we care more about the truth and civility than about sensation and noise. Do we have a deal?