As a nonbeliever, I have to have the utmost respect for the truth. Because I don’t expect anyone to believe what I say, I must strive at all times be be as truthful as possible.

As we make our way through this life, we must make decisions on the data we have at hand. To make the correct decisions, we must have as much true data as we can get. Withholding data (or outright lying) to manipulate people to act in a way that is beneficial to us is wrong in my opinion.

Because of this, I must also try to practice unconditional love for all. If I expect people to open themselves up to me truthfully, I must be ready to accept them unconditionally as they are.

I have become politically active in the past year, and I am shocked by the amount of deceit involved in playing politics. The city has been especially two-faced in its dealing with our community. Because of the anger this provoked, I let my anger and frustration show at the last council meeting and was chastised for not showing respect.

Pretending to respect people who are not respectable is just as deceitful as pretending to believe in God or Allah or whatever you want to call it. It would be as deceitful as pretending to have allegiance to an inanimate object such as a flag (of any country).

It is not just the city that has the problem. I have been encouraged by some of my activist partners to try to put on a good face for working with the city and to “manage our message” in order to influence public opinion.

I remember the same pressure from the old guard at Columbia University in 1968. They tried to press the student activists to tone down their rhetoric and actions for better PR. That was not the first time I realized that “liberals” are sometimes too conservative for their own good. That was after a “liberal” president escalated the Vietnam war (after his dovish campaign promises). That was also the year that the Democrats beat up protestors at their political convention.

So you might see why I am disillusioned with the political process. Our government has been taken over by a plutocracy, and sadly, that takeover has reached the local level here in Eugene. This takeover has been aided by a massive amount of misinformation going out to the public. We shouldn’t try to counteract this with more misinformation.