When selling a product, you are bound by ethical and legal constraints to tell the truth about your own product and refrain from attacking your competitors in an unfair manner.
Break those rules and you are likely to find yourself in pretty hot water.
But politics has its own set of rules.
With Facebook clearly indicating they will not censor political claims for truth, political campaigns are struggling to find a path on the advertising giant. Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will not censor politicians
Elizabeth Warren employed the clever tactic of running a false ad to draw attention to the issue, but it will not fundamentally change the challenge of truth and honesty in political campaigns. Elizabeth Warren's fake Facebook ad against Zuckerberg
In fairness, political campaigns have long been the home of “truthiness” – a way of speaking that gives the impression of honesty while peddling half-truth. This technique undermined the relationship between the audience and political professionals trying to win elections in the here and now, with little regard to the future implications.
But the future is with us now.
President Donald Trump has been fact checked more than any other politician in history and the results are clear: he is the most truth challenged politician in American history. And he is dragging his party with him.
What is the solution for those who are progressive, liberal or centrist?
At Decide Campaigns we have doubled down on truth.
Every claim made should be supported by news articles from reputable sources. We will not fall into the trap of shifting towards sites and sources that are supportive of the ideology. Instead, we are committed to using sources that are, at their core, committed to truth above those that are committed to our shared ideology.
There are cycles to everything. Today is a low point for truth in politics, but we will not stoop to the level of our opposition and, when the cycle changes back to truth in politics, we hold our heads, and those of our clients, high.