Richard Nixon was President during my high school years. The sixties had just ended, yet the Vietnam War had not. When I was about fifteen I remember sitting with a bunch of older guys as the results of the first draft lottery were announced over 89 WLS out of Chicago. For you youngsters, that was the cool rock and roll clear channel 50,000 watt AM radio blowtorch with DJ's like John "Records" Landecker. WLS could be heard in far flung places like the Dairy Queen parking lot in Oneonta, Alabama late at night as its far away signal bounced like a perfectly placed billiard ball off the cooling ionosphere. I still like to listen to Buffalo Springfield with a lot of digitally inserted static just to take me back to those days. But I digress. Anyway, for those of you who have forgotten, or maybe never knew, the future of young men in the United States was determined, to a great degree, by the draft board folks drawing the days of the year out of a hat. Going first in the draft, in this case, was not a good thing for a college age guy.. If your birthday was drawn early, your chances of being drafted was higher. It was a somber gathering. The draft lottery continued through the early seventies, although the number of draftees dropped significantly after the first two years.
In the preceding couple of years there were protests against the government, and against the war. The 1968 Democratic Convention erupted in violence. The Civil Rights movement had reached critical mass. One of my heroes, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis in April, 1968. Then two months later another of my heroes, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated in June. I avidly read the writings of Thoreau and Gandhi on civil disobedience, and was inspired by King's use of those ideas coupled with the teachings of Jesus.
In other words, I was one of those sixties teen-agers that you read about. By every standard I would have been graded a liberal, a child of the sixties. Except that whole drug culture and sexual revolution thing. But that was mostly because I was scared..
President Richard Nixon was my president for all those years. I should have been adamantly opposed to him, just because of my liberal politics and the fact that I was approaching a draftable age and he insisted on not ending the war..
Watergate started to break. The hearings began. It became apparent as the days drug on that President Nixon had authorized and ordered a variety of criminal activities against his perceived political enemies. But I just could not believe it. I could not believe that the President of the United States had done what was being reported, even though I really opposed his policies. It was contrary to what I knew, what I had been taught, what I believed. . I had earned the Boy Scout Citizenship merit badge. I had been taught by Ruby O'shields, perhaps the best Civics and Government teacher in the history of the world. I knew what was what.
So I remember defending the President. Hard to believe now. But it's true.
I was naive.
I did not want to believe the truth.
There is a lot of that going on these days. Not wanting to believe the truth. But I hope that can somehow be changed. That maybe we can all grow up. That we can be strong enough to handle the truth, regardless of party or position.
I still respect the office of the President. And I respect President Obama. I worked for his election and re-election and as of today, would do it all again. I support him and believe this country has been blessed to have his leadership for the last four tough years. I expect that same leadership will continue for the next four years.
But, I will tell you now, I am not naive anymore. If the truth is that President Obama is proven to have broken the law or intentionally allowed our nation to be damaged for his political gain, then appropriate action must be taken. I would be sad, of course. But this stuff is too important. It is not a game.
On the other hand, if the truth is that President Obama has done neither, then I would expect for others, even those who oppose his politics and policies, to accept that truth and move on in dealing with the important issues facing us. There is still plenty to have healthy arguments about.
But no amount of argument will change the truth. It may help reveal it. But it will not change it.
So support the policy you believe is best. Vote for the candidate you think is best to lead us. Argue passionately for important things. Open a shop in the marketplace of ideas.
But seek and speak the truth. In today's world, that may take a little more work, because there are a lot of lies out there, and it is not okay to repeat a lie of another due to ignorance or laziness or self-interest.
Because as another of my heroes once said, the truth will set us free.
And isn't that what we all want?
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