Why truth is the only thing that can save America

You know, folks, there’s a sickness running through half this country. I don’t mean a cold, or a virus, or a bug you can knock out with a dose of antibiotics. I mean a spiritual sickness — a willful blindness — where the truth doesn’t matter anymore.

Logic doesn’t matter. Reason doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is outrage. Manufactured, perpetual, programmed outrage.

And it’s reached the point where it doesn’t matter what Donald J. Trump does — whether he builds, creates, improves or even breathes — the other half of America is going to hate him for it.

The latest is Trump’s plan to build a privately funded ballroom addition to the White House — yes, privately funded, meaning not one dime of taxpayer money — and they’re calling him “authoritarian,” “dictatorial,” even “monarchical.”

It’s insane, especially because the ballroom is being funded entirely by private sources — from patriotic Americans. Yet the media, the Democrats and their chorus of professional protestors would have you believe he’s bulldozing the Lincoln Bedroom and erecting a palace.

Let’s talk about history — something the left conveniently forgets. Every president for the past century has undertaken major construction or renovation projects at the White House. Teddy Roosevelt, back in 1902, literally built the West Wing — tearing down greenhouses and adding entire new structures. William Howard Taft created the Oval Office itself. Barack Obama added a basketball court.

For all these other presidents and their projects, there was no outrage.

So why this time? Because the outrage isn’t about the ballroom. It’s about Trump.

Just like those absurd “No Kings” rallies. You know, I watched the interviews from those rallies. Protestors carrying signs that said, “Down with Dictators” and “Democracy, Not Monarchy.” And when reporters — a few honest ones — asked, “What specifically has Trump done that’s unconstitutional?” the answers were pure mush.

They said, “Oh, well, he just acts like a dictator.” Or “He’s too confident.” Or “He doesn’t listen to experts.” Or “He says mean things.”

That’s not dictatorship. That’s leadership.

That’s strength. That’s a man who believes in his convictions, even when it’s unpopular.

You see, the left has turned emotion into their substitute for truth. They feel offended, and therefore they are offended. They feel threatened, so truth doesn’t matter.

But if we abandon truth, then we abandon freedom itself. Truth is what grounds us. It’s what separates civilization from mob rule.

The phrase “The truth shall set you free” comes straight from the Gospel of John. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” He wasn’t talking about opinion. He wasn’t talking about “your truth” or “my truth.” He was talking about the truth, objective, eternal, unchanging.

But when half the country no longer cares about the truth, when they only care about how something feels, that’s when the truth becomes revolutionary — and dangerous.

Look at Charlie Kirk.

And when we can’t agree on basic facts — if one side believes up is down, man is woman, debt is wealth, and leadership is tyranny — then we can’t move forward as a nation.

Sure, half the country will hate Trump for building a ballroom, for signing a bill, for breathing oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, regardless of the truth. But that’s not our real problem.

Our job isn’t to convince them otherwise; it’s to stand firm in truth.

Because if we don’t, we’ll lose more than just the truth.

We’ll lose freedom itself.

Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman, attorney and author of “Bright Spots, Big Country, What Makes America Great.” He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and editor of The Caddo Republican. His columns have appeared regularly in 318 Forum since 2007. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by e-mail at louisavallone@mac.com, and on American Ground Radio at 101.7FM and 710 AM, weeknights from 6 - 7 p.m., and streaming live on keelnews.com.