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Honesty and integrity. These two assets are the cornerstone of all relationships. Family, friendships, business interactions, and politics alike depend on each party being honest in the relationship. Integrity is built on the knowledge that those in which you deal with believe you will tell them the truth and will not withhold facts that are important to your decision-making process.

Without these attributes, marriages fail, children and parents are alienated from each other, friends are offended and drift away. Customers no longer do business where they believe they have been short changed in quality or value for their money.

Most reasonable people are willing to cautiously assume these qualities in interactions until others prove to be unreliable. Over time, as relations grow, true trust develops or are proven unworthy.

POLITICAL WORLD

Those of us that are involved in the political process understand that for the public and voters to trust us we must consistently act and speak honestly and, in turn, act with the utmost integrity as we serve our constituents. Often candidates make promises in campaigns. Sometimes they are successful, other times they are not. Voters accept and understand that. However, when the promise is made and no attempt is made to accomplish that goal, voters remember. They no longer trust that their representative has the honesty and integrity expected.

MAYORKAS

With this thought in mind, it fascinates me that officials in Washington have been ignoring this reality. They are saying things that are provably false. Consider the news this week that Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas was clearly informed that mounted border agents had not whipped illegally crossing aliens. After a briefing that ‘his’ employees had beaten no one; he told the national media differently. In his speech, he accused agents of systemic racism despite knowing that was a false statement. He directly lied to the American people for political gain.

HARRIS

Vice President Harris has acted in ways that few could or should have faith in her honesty and integrity. After being appointed by President Biden as the ‘border czar’, she never took the time to go to the border to see for herself the situation firsthand that she was expected to solve. When questioned on national media about that, she responded that she had been to the border. The reporter corrected her saying, “you have not been to the border”. Her response was to deflect the conversation by saying, “I’ve never been to Europe either”. More recently, the Vice President has clearly stated that the border is secure and an administration priority. She seems to not know that news crews have hours of news clips of aliens crossing the unsecure borders night and day. She has said this in the face of numerous cases of deaths in the back of trucks, drowning crossing the Rio Grande, and dying in the rough terrain along the border.

The Vice President seems unaware of the illegal drugs that are coming across the border by drug ‘mules’. Drugs that are costing American lives by overdoses and by drug gangs fighting over turf in many of our cities. Polls show that few have trust in her integrity.

BIDEN

President Biden’s poll numbers have fallen to historic lows because few believe anything he says. The fact is most every time he speaks, he says things that are clearly false. Most recently, he told the media that the reason he ran for President was to bring down inflation. Ignore for a minute that when he first announced he was running to be President it was because of the confrontation between over passionate zealots on the right and left that clashed in Charlottesville in 2017. On the issue of inflation, the country was experiencing an average 0% inflation during the previous administration. Now we are seeing inflation of 8% overall but far more in food and energy costs.

Regrettably, it appears that many of the things that the President says are simply things that others have written for him to say. His handlers are not doing anything to restore his lost integrity.

As we move closer to Election Day, it is important for every voter to look closely at candidates and select the candidate who means what they say, not simply saying what is needed to be elected. Honesty and integrity matter!

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Charlotte in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.