In January, the Deseret News asked legendary journalist Bob Woodward if, as the Watergate story started to break, he could have possibly imagined where it would lead him 40 years later. His response: “no way.”
With a similar degree of innocence, we had no way of knowing where our conversations on trust and integrity would lead when we launched the new year with a special event dedicated to the country’s character crisis.
What began as an investigation into eroding virtues within communities culminated on the national stage as the House of Representatives issued the ultimate rebuke of a U.S. president. The impeachment process, with all of its accusations, witnesses and outcomes, is a solemn manifestation of disintegrating integrity within the country and among leaders of all political stripes.
Indeed, 2019 proved a remarkable year for studying the state of integrity and trust in America. Here is what we learned.
Instant certainty is the enemy of truth
When President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon of all his offenses, Woodward was convinced it was “the final corruption of Watergate.” Only years later did he realize Ford wasn’t making good on his end of a corrupt deal; instead, he sacrificed his career to put the country first and help it heal from the wounds of scandal.
Such is the nuance of truth and the danger of instant certainty.
That principle reached a fever pitch when news reports revealed actor Jussie Smollett — a gay black man — was the victim of a deplorable hate crime in Chicago. He was flooded with support and the calls of activists who cited his plight as one among a rising number of hate crimes. That is, until police charged him days later with staging the entire scene.
Rushing to judgement is at best a distraction from reality and at worst an assault on truth, tolerance and humility. It undermines trust in institutions and establishes the loudest voices as the most credible. More so than before, finding facts in this age of immediacy requires a steady mind and a patient heart.
Americans on a slippery slope
This year’s Deseret News Ten Today survey, an annual exploration of the relevance of the Ten Commandments in modern life, focused on the merits of honesty in a digital age. Its findings weave a cautionary tale.
Americans are becoming more comfortable with the little lies of life — cheating on one’s taxes, faking a sick day at work or inflating a resume to get a job — and that’s particularly true of the younger generations.
Some will insist that, “Those things don’t really matter,” but history says otherwise. It was the little things that tripped up Richard Nixon, as Woodward recounted. Covering up the Watergate break-in was only the end of a string of less severe abuses of power.
Americans would do well to internalize the counsel of Elder D. Todd Christofferson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a young law clerk for Judge John J. Sirica, he was among the first people to hear Nixon’s White House tapes. He remarked at January’s event: “When it seems ‘it doesn’t matter’ ... I don’t think you can make an exception. It puts you on the slippery slope.”
A cure for contempt
American trust in government dropped off in the years following Watergate. “It bottomed out in 2008 and never recovered,” said Michael Dimock, president of Pew Research Center, during January’s event.
Now, Americans are losing trust in something else: each other. At least 64% of U.S. adults believe collective trust in one another is shrinking, according to Pew.
Fueling the shift is the flame of contempt. With increasing degrees of hostility, Americans aren’t just disagreeing on politics, they’re learning to loathe each other. Author and social scientist Arthur Brooks warned of the consequences of that trend in an interview with the Deseret News: “If we do that in America, we will make permanent enemies who will be completely unpersuasive.”
“Worst of all,” he continued, “we’re going to become unhappy.”
The cure isn’t revolutionary; it’s as old as the ministry of Jesus Christ: Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you.
Distrust ends where kindness begins. It’s a function of learning to disagree better and seeing others as the divine beings they are, says Brooks. Joy replaces unhappiness, and mutual respect pushes the best solutions forward in the marketplace of ideas.
At the heart of our exploration of integrity and trust is this simple question: Do moral principles still matter?
The answer is yes, if public reactions to this year’s lapses of character are any indication. That’s comforting given the overwhelming evidence the country is hard up for morality.
Still, as we wrote in January, 2019 may be framed as the year trust was on trial. The trends won’t reverse themselves. It’s every American’s obligation to reframe the arguments, see others deeply and demand honesty from everyone they meet.
A citizenry armed with integrity is the final fortification against threats to American morality, and we expect as much from all Americans in the decade to come.