Truth is absolute, no matter what deniers say

Johnny Cash, in his 1970 hit song “What is Truth,” focused on our youth as they questioned “truth” as it relates to “war,” “the golden rule,” to “solemnly swear” on the witness stand, only to learn that “it didn’t really matter if the truth was there.”

Should it be shocking that 50 years later, that same question could be raised by today’s youth and everyone else who truly cares about the epidemic of lying that is so entrenched in conservative politics?

That the movement is a safe haven for a large bevy of liars says much about their unfitness to lead, govern, judge or inform, from Supreme Court justices to former President Donald Trump and his election-denier followers, the owners and hosts of Fox News, congressional representatives such as House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy, New York Reps. George Santos and Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and more.

To this group, everything seems to be fair game. If something can be lied about, they will lie, whether it’s about voter fraud, abortion, guns, Social Security, transgender persons, COVID-19, poverty, racism, tax cuts, Ukraine, safety regulations or climate change, not to mention the outrageous notion that there was no insurrection.

In his song, Cash doesn’t come straight out and tell us what truth is; he leaves that up to us. But one thing is for certain Truth is absolute. And a lie is absolutely the opposite of truth. All of us should know what truth is: to welcome it, to tell it, and to live it.

Bill Bronk East Greenbush