Dragnet
Many of us of a certain age remember the detective story that appeared weekly called Dragnet. It is a classic crime drama starring Jack Webb as Agent Joe Friday. It dominated the new TV medium after having its start as a radio program. He had scripts vetted by the Los Angelos Police Department for accuracy making sure that his prime character was authentic to how the police did things.
The show kept to a simple presentation that did not include much violence or gunfire. Everyone, however, remembers the punch line that Joe Friday used as he began his quest to unpack the crime. When he encountered someone in an interview who used too much description of what they thought occurred he would say. “Just the facts, Ma’am. Just the facts.”
We have been subjected to lies for the last two years with Trump himself being the Liar in Chief. But all of us, I believe, have had it regarding the lies that have to told or exaggerations if you will by both campaigns. They have been lies of omission or commission by both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Truth has been hidden as though it was the greatest crime that could be committed.
Let’s just take our Liar in Chief, President Trump. CNN has a fact tracker who follows his big lies such as:
I inherited all this challenge from Biden!
The economy is doing better than it ever has!
Obama is stupid. No one is attending his rallies and my rallies are full.
I am a genius!
You get the message!
But what would happen if people did what Kaitlin Collins, CNN Superstar, does on a regular basis. She challenges Trump by indicating the facts of the matter set over against his lies.
He gets furious with her approach. Truth is the hot button to challenge his lies by anyone. Throughout his second term, he has been lying even more as there are no guardrails. The war in Iran has been stopped by him 30 plus times only to not be the truth of the matter.
The answer is rather simple to holding others accountable. It is quoted from the movie, “A Few Good Men”, when we hear that famous line that “you can’t stand the truth.” There is strong language, but it gets to the heart of the matter of what is needed to get to the truth. It is calling for specific details of the accused. Nicholson’s character reminds me of Trump and the hot button that truth can cause anger in those who lie. They claim it is for a higher cause.
During this run up on this current campaign, why can’t the messaging be the words of Joe Friday in Dragnet, “The facts, just the facts.” The guideline could be that you can’t say anything negative (a lie) about the person you are running against. You can only say what your position is on all the issues.
Can’t be done? It has already happened.
Two Utah candidates for Governor made a campaign ad together during the 2020 election campaigns. It had a great impact on the voters. The Democrat was Chris Peterson, and the Republican was Spencer Cox praising the importance of mutual respect in the political process.
“We are in the final days of campaigning to be your next governor.” Peterson said in the ad that they both wanted the viewers’ vote. They followed that with comments encouraging political sportsmanship.
“We debate each other without degrading each other’s character. We can disagree without hating each other.” The candidates both agreed to support the outcome of the election.
Why can’t this be done for all candidates as a pledge. It would take money out of the campaigns. Recall that when you have money, it becomes an ethical issue.
See both short videos below. The first is the classic line about truth in “A Few Good Men”.
The second video is John McCain being the honorable person that he is.
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