Truth in Politics
TONY ABBOTT: Well, again Kerry, I know politicians are gonna be judged on everything they say, but sometimes, in the heat of discussion, you go a little bit further than you would if it was an absolutely calm, considered, prepared, scripted remark, which is one of the reasons why the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks. KERRY O'BRIEN: So every time you make a statement, we have to ask you whether it's carefully prepared and scripted or whether it's just something on the fly? No, seriously; this is a very serious question. TONY ABBOTT: But all of us, Kerry, all of us when we're in the heat of verbal combat, so to speak, will sometimes say things that go a little bit further. KERRY O'BRIEN: Mr Abbott, we're not all leaders of major political parties who are either Prime Minister or aspiring to be. TONY ABBOTT: True, true, true. KERRY O'BRIEN: Would you agree there is extra onus on you ... TONY ABBOTT: Absolutely right. Absolutely right. KERRY O'BRIEN: ... to be accurate and honest and make promises that can be trusted? TONY ABBOTT: Absolutely right. KERRY O'BRIEN: But that time, you couldn't? There was an uproar, produced largely by the media and the governing Labour party. Within hours there was an advert about how the opposition leader cannot be trusted. At the same time, our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has built a reputation that exceeds previous Prime Minsters on how to make promises and then break them. So what is the deal here? The truth is, there is no truth in politics. Politics is the arena of lies, lies and more lies. Any member of public who does not know this is either too young, too naive, or delusional. Do we like that this is so? No. Do we want it to be different? I think yes. I think most of us yearn for our leaders to speak the truth. Even if sometimes we can’t handle it. It is laughable that a senior politician is actually ridiculed for what everyone knows is true. Why the ridicule? Is it because we, the public, want to be kept under the illusion that our politicians really do not lie? When they come out and blatantly state that they lie...or stretch the truth, we get all upset. What Tony Abbott said is probably closer to any truth that has been spoken by either leader in the last few months. And that is the tragedy. I do not think many people enter politics with the intention of lying for a living. I think the very system of politics supports lying. I am not sure someone could enter main stream politics and stay in truth. Rather, the would have to take a path similar to Gandhi. Parallel but separate. Main stream politics is not built for truth. It raises the question..why is there no truth in politics? And why do we, the public, accept the lack of truth in politics as the status quo? Surely by doing so we contribute to it staying as it is? Could we handle a leader who spoke the truth? What would that leader say? “Here is the deal people of ..... (Add your country here.)We are broke. Not only are we broke, but we have been filling our ranks with members of the club, the “in” crowd, padding their nests as well as our own at your expense. For decades we have neglected spending on infrastructure, as these things are long term and because our term is only four years, people cannot see the value today of building a bridge or road to make the next 20-30 years better. We only really build these things now when there is a public outcry and the place is falling apart, then people think we are great for saving them. But we do not build in advance, before it becomes so needed. That does not an election win. Same with the environment. Because our elections are funded by big business, the coal and petroleum companies among them, we cannot go completely as green as we know we need to. In fact, we have to slow down or halt the greening of our country so we can get re-elected. We know we are screwing the future to ensure jobs today. That’s just the way it is....” I could go on and on.... We the people are not so foolish to think that this is not what is happening? To know that there is no truth in politics. Why do we accept it? Partly because it is the system. And to change the system is a massive change. A true game change, requiring foresight beyond the scope of many. And the kind of courage that puts the change way ahead of any personal rewards. Added to the political system, and just as much a contributing factor, is our economic system. They both feed off each other like ravenous beasts. If I were a futurist, I would predict that the change is going to come from a Black Swan event, or positive deviant. The unpredictable, unforeseen. The volcano, or a Gandhi. And that this event, or person, would so rock the very foundations of the economic and political system, that it would by necessity, unravel. In its place would rise the phoenix. However, I am open to being wrong. As my work is embedded in integrity, the quest for integrity in all domains, I am open to working with any politician, anywhere in the world, as an experiment, to see if they are able to stay in integrity, to bring their own truth to politics, within the very system that works to erode truth. I would like to know that there is a place for truth in politics. If you are a politician, and up for this, let's talk. Return from Truth in Politics to Business Ethics
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