Thoughts on Togas, Truth and Decision 2008
Category: Blog - November 04, 2008
By Wednesday, the pundits will be discussing the coulda', shoulda', woulda' of both 2008 presidential campaigns, some more than others. In preparation for those discussions I'm asking the media - no, I'm asking all Americans - to measure the campaigns as the ancient Greco-Roman orators and philosophers would, asking the question: "Were McCain and Obama virtuous rhetoricians?"
Why base your judgment on the ideas of guys in togas and laurel wreaths? Because, they strove to value truth more than showmanship and wisdom more than sooth-saying.
In De Oratore, Cicero cautions that: "the stronger [eloquence] is, the more necessary it is for it to be combined with integrity and supreme wisdom, and if we bestow fluency of speech on persons devoid of those virtues, we shall not have made orators of them but shall have put weapons into the hands of madmen."
I'm thinking that Cicero and other ancient rhetoricians, such as his predecessor Isocrates, would be pretty critical of the presidential candidates' and their running mates' oratory (maybe some a little more than others).
Here's just a sample of what I think they would balk at:
- Obama strategically takes Henry Kissinger's statements about Iran out of context.
- Biden makes at least 10 misstatements during presidential campaign.
- McCain repeatedly makes misstatements about the Iraq conflict.
- Palin makes up a Thomas Jefferson quote.
More than once, each candidate has chosen the flashy statement over articulating truth. But, truth in public speaking matters because character matters. As Aristotle wrote in Politic, "The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy; and always the better the character, the better the government."
Jessica Zittlow
Account Supervisor
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