"Being First with the Truth"

The recipe for America found in Iraq

Most Americans who have followed the Iraq War are aware that the effort and strategy collectively known as ‘the surge’ and directed by General David Petraeus did in fact turn the tide of that war toward victory for the forces of democracy and civilization. General Petraeus recently spoke at the American Enterprise Institute in some detail about the elements of the strategy, and one element in particular caught our eye: in seeking to win over, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, the native Iraqis to the side of America’s vision, the Americans needed to be sure their presence and their messages met the standard of “being first with the truth”.

It’s worth thinking about on several levels, as America struggles to combat the deliberate plan of Obama and his radical leftists to generate anarchy, suspicion and distrust among Americans, whether through financial manipulation, amplifying the noise of racism, or feeding class envy and other grievances ginned up via group identity politics.

“Being first with the truth” implies, first of all, that there is such a thing as truth. Second, it can only stand as an element of neighborhood reconciliation and transformation if another implication is also true, which is that people will respond predictably and favorably and trustingly if they come to know a source of truth.

In Iraq, the pre-surge situation was clearly chaotic, and the purpose of the terrorists was to foment all kinds of suspicion and distrust and tribal hatred by engaging in car bombings and retaliations and even random acts of violence. But even in such chaotic conditions, it is possible to determine the truth of who did what act; who helped in doing harmful acts; and who is trying to prevent those attacks. In this process, false allegations and false assignments of blame and false descriptions of motive and character can be and are exposed. All of this follows from ‘being first with the truth’ whenever something happened, good or bad, in a particular neighborhood. Over time, the people know who is a straight-shooter (no pun intended), and who is not.

What they learned in Iraq is that the American soldiers were on the side of decency and honesty and good faith—the basic desires written onto every human heart—and the terrorists were not. So they began to side with the Americans against the terrorists; tipping off who and where attacks were coming from, and generally refusing to be silent.

There were many elements to the surge strategy, some more objective than others, and all had importance. But from our point of view, this simple yet powerful concept of ‘being first with the truth’ was the most potent because of its implicit acceptance of the idea that truth exists, and people want it.

Which brings us to America in May 2010. There’s a universal recognition among Americans that our government and our mainstream media aren’t remotely aligned with ‘being first with the truth’. On the contrary, they are obsessed with the bland denial of truth, and being first with a spin of what they would like truth to be.

“ GM has paid back its loan early, and its operations have turned the corner.”

“The Obama administration has been on top of the oil rig/slick disaster from DAY ONE.”

“Our homeland security system worked in the foiling of the Times Square bombing and arrest of the perpetrator.”

“The increase in the unemployment rate is good news for the economy because it means more people are looking for work who had previously given up.”

These are just the latest examples of not just bland denials of truth, and not just conventional spin, but out and out lies coming from the radical leftist government and spread by the mainstream media. It’s no wonder no one trusts the government or the media anymore, and every event on the globe generates a conspiracy theory as to what is actually going on.

The damage from this loss of trust is deeply corrosive to our civil society, but we can thank the American military for reminding Americans of the remedy, and the path to success for a new generation of American leaders: “being first with the truth”.

As with the Iraqis, there is absolutely no question that American can and will respond to truth-tellers. But the bigger challenge may be in finding new leaders who who understand, agree, know and accept the first implication of this critical ‘surge’ element: specifically, that there is such a thing as truth.

Too many, and frankly it sometimes seems that all, incumbent political leaders have lost belief in this fundamental concept. They have come of age in an era of doubt and dispute over what constitutes truth, and many have concluded that everything is a matter of spin and who spins the best, wins, regardless of truth. But truth does exist, as we’ve explored in many essays on this site (see here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

All of this is why we predict many of America’s next generation of great leaders (who are needed NOW) are very likely going to come from backgrounds in the American military—one of the last bastions of traditional American values, trusted, taught and lived. Allen West certainly fits the mold; we hope for many others. “Being first with the truth” is a winning strategy; it is an American strategy.

Paul Gable

May 8, 2010