Distrust of politicians

If the recent presidential election as well as the public spectacle of president-elect Donald Trump’s search for candidates for his cabinet has taught us anything, it is that we must never trust a word politicians utter in public.

Before the election, Donald Trump and his Republican rivals attacked each other with words that should blush any decent human being. Now that Trump has become president-elect, his former rivals and critics are busy kissing his hand and eating from it, as though they did not mean a word they said.

All these shameless opportunists without an iota of integrity give the same answer: Let bygones be bygones; we are cooperating with Trump and offering our expertise for the good of the country.

Integrity means one’s thoughts, speech and actions are in perfect harmony. When politicians behave as though they did not mean what they said, or that what they said with straight face was a sarcasm or euphemism or rhetoric, people become confused as to what to believe anymore. Just one lie is enough to erode trust in anyone. Sooner or later, one resorts to telling more lies to cover up previous lies.

As it is, people’s trust in all elected leaders is lowest ever in history. The recent developments would certainly push it further down. The unfortunate fallout from all this could be that people might simply consider such hypocritical and opportunistic behavior as perfectly normal. If our political leaders behave like that, why can’t we follow their example?

K.P.S. Kamath, Cape Girardeau