What Has Happened to Integrity

Most of my life I have worked in situations where falsifying data was unacceptable because lives could be affected. People could die if aircraft maintenance records, bridge safety records, or flood vulnerability records were falsified. If people were to die due to the consequences of falsifying data in these cases people would probably end up in jail.

Today yet another scandal came to light as revelations surfaced that VA records had been falsified so that an administrator could get a $9000 bonus. As a consequence veterans may actually have died from lack of treatment to which they were entitled. Our President has once again expressed outrage and promised to thoroughly investigate. Even as he does that he pats himself on the back and says "my government has provided increased funding for the VA." (Actually I thought it was "our" government, but what do I know.) The truth is that more money cannot solve the ethical problems that have led to multiple recent breaches of trust in several federal government agencies! However, jail time for the guilty party in this current VA case might help civil servants get back on the right track.

I am not sure what we can or should do as responsible citizens to address the general lack of integrity in our government. I do think that being informed is a good start. A friend of mine, a retired Air Force officer has recently teamed up with retired Major General John Singlaub in an effort to get people better informed. They have recently been sharing a movie called The Agenda. The movie shed a lot of light on how we have gotten where we are and serves as a clarion call that we need to get involved. If you have time you might want to watch it.

You can watch the movie online at  http://vimeo.com/63749370 .

:-) Lonnie