As a student of theology, the title of this upcoming book caught my eye – Original Sin. As I read the book’s description, I realized it was Jake Tapper’s mea culpa on the media’s cover up of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Jake Tapper was one who said that Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack” he was “fit as a fiddle” and he denigrated anyone as a conspiracy theorist who said otherwise. Why did he knowingly lie to the American public? As we seek to discern truth from error, I was reminded of Pilate’s words to Jesus, “What is truth?”

Truth seems to be in short supply. Let’s take a chronological look over the past few years. We were told that COVID 19 came from a wet market in Wuhan, China. Anyone who dared suggest that COVID-19 originated from a Chinese communist virology lab engineering gain-in-function research (that was funded with assistance from Western agencies) was damned as incompetent, racist, and conspiratorial. The media demonized anyone who dared suggest that the deadly virus could have originated in a lab.

Many experts now believe it came from the Wuhan lab. A recent New York Times article by Zeynep Tufekci, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, wrote, “While the scientists publicly said the scenario was implausible, privately many of its authors considered the scenario to be not just plausible but likely.” She goes on to say, “To this day, there is no strong scientific evidence ruling out a lab leak or proving that the virus arose from human-animal contact in that seafood market. The few papers cited for market origin were written by a small, overlapping group of authors, including those who didn’t tell the public how serious their doubts had been.” If Anthony Fauci, who provided funds for gain of function research in China, was not guilty, why did Biden (or the autopen) grant him a pardon? What is truth?

In the run up to the 2020 election Hunter Biden’s laptop had some highly incriminating evidence. Antony Blinken, fabricated a story that it had all the “earmarks of Russian disinformation.” The pornographic pictures, the evidence of prostitution and drug use, the emails implicating Joe Biden in influence peddling were all dismissed as false. Now the FBI has verified the contents of the laptop as true. What is truth?

For years Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, repeatedly told us the border was secure. The bi-coastal elites making policy were immune from the consequences of their decisions, but the people on the front lines could see the long lines for health care and the reduction in their services going to the illegal aliens. Biden’s administration allowed over 10 million people to enter America, change the demography, and increase government social services as part of their agenda. Sadly, they brought illegal drugs, increased human trafficking, and have overwhelmed California’s health care system. I wonder how many terrorists have entered the country during this mass influx?  New York City mayor, Eric Adams, dared to speak up against the illegal immigration and found himself embroiled in legal matters from the federal government. What is truth?

This brings us back to the book Original Sin that reveals the magnitude of the problem of Biden’s cognitive decline and how many people knew about it. The book description states, “What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless—a desperate bet that went bust—and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents. The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.”

The democrat party said they were saving democracy and the irony is they were destroying it as unelected bureaucrats were playing President. “The irony is biting: In the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, tossing aside his implicit promise to serve for only one term, denying the existence of health issues the nation had been watching for years, dooming the Democrats to defeat.” The legacy media promulgated all of these lies and censored anyone who dared question them. What is truth?

Part of the problem is that we live in our silos – we only listen to the narrative that fits our presuppositions. This became clear in the Biden – Trump debate on June 27, 2024. Trump did not win the debate, but Biden clearly lost it. People in the echo chamber said Biden did okay. Jill Biden said, “Joe, you did such a great job, you answered every question!” She was in the echo chamber. The problem is when we’re in the echo chamber we can’t see the truth. The truth is Joe did not do a great job and it led to his removal as a candidate.

Echo chambers exist on both the left and the right. I read different sides of the political spectrum. I read the New York Times, The Economist, and The Atlantic. I also read Victor Davis Hanson and The Hoover Digest. If we do not acknowledge that truth exists on both sides, then we will continue to gaslight the other side and sow division within our country.

We witnessed this at the recent Presidential address. I understand that the democrats have great antipathy toward Trump, but could they not stand and acknowledge a young cancer survivor? I know the democrats want open borders, but why do they want to keep dangerous gang members in our country? The democrat agenda mandated the green agenda and supported electric vehicles – why are they destroying one of the most successful American manufacturer of electric vehicles – even going so far as to dox Tesla owners. This is destructive to our nation. Could this be why the democrat party approval is at 29%?

My desire is that both political parties work together toward making America safe and prosperous.