Tolkkinen: On Election Day, let’s hold ourselves accountable

Today’s the day most Minnesota voters will trek to township halls, senior centers or public libraries to have our say in presidential politics.

For months we’ve been shying away from criticizing our own side for fear of giving the other side ammunition to use against us. We’ve kept silent about the Biden administration trying to appease both sides in Gaza. We explain away Trump inciting a deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021. We silently grimace when Gov. Tim Walz has to answer for his delay in activating the National Guard during the riots following George Floyd’s murder.

Meanwhile, we’ve been busy pointing fingers at the other side.

You’re the ones who cheat. Can’t trust your side. You guys all lie. You’re out to destroy America. You’re ignorant. You’re in a bubble.

If this column were a soundtrack, I’d bring the music to a discordant, screeching halt.

How did we all get so cynical? So convinced that we’re the good guys and the other side, well, they’re a bunch of hooligans set on torching the Constitution while dancing on their mothers’ graves.

Here’s a novel idea. How about we hold ourselves accountable? Not just in politics, but in religion and in our professions. It’s something that I’ve always thought journalism does really well, and its willingness to hold itself accountable is one of the things that attracted me to the field in the first place.

It was in journalism school at the University of Minnesota that I first learned about Janet Cooke.

A celebrated Washington Post journalist, she had won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for a heart-rending story about an 8-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy. Only there was no Jimmy. Cooke had made it all up. When the truth came out, she lost her Pulitzer and her career, and became a cautionary tale for many young, ambitious journalists.

Her skullduggery damaged journalism.

As Mike Sager, Cooke’s colleague and former beau, wrote in 2016, “Not only did she lie; she did so in the grandest fashion, on the biggest stage, and in the process disgraced her employers, pulling the wool over some of the brightest eyes in the business. And if someone could do that right under the noses of [Ben] Bradlee and [Bob] Woodward and company, how could any reporter ever be trusted again?”

Anybody who has ever worked in journalism since then has felt that skepticism, even scorn, which has in recent decades turned in some quarters to outright repudiation of the mainstream news media.

To make matters worse, Cooke was not a one-off case. Over the years, other reporters have been canned for engaging in unethical practices. There was a double whammy in the early 2000s when Jayson Blair resigned from the New York Times after being exposed for plagiarism and just plain making things up, and the Associated Press fired Christopher Newton for quoting sources who didn’t exist.

News organizations could have covered up this wrong-doing with an eye to reputation and the bottom line.

But they didn’t. For better or worse, they told the world. They had to. Word would have gotten out anyway and made everything worse. It was also the honest thing to do. Really, for those who expose corruption in government agencies, the only thing to do.

There is the argument that nobody is responsible for the misdeeds of others in their group. That’s true. But sometimes, especially in an era when there’s so much distrust, the only people we listen to are our friends. So the in-group needs to speak up. And the rest of us insiders need to consider whether they are correct. We need to rebuild trust, honesty, accountability, and we’re not going to do it by pointing fingers at others.

That’s why conservative Christians need to resist Christian nationalism which threatens our country and our faith. Muslims could help the Gaza conflict by pressuring Hamas to return all hostages, and Jews can insist the Israeli government improve its treatment of Muslim residents.

During a crisis like the riots (not to be confused with protests) following George Floyd’s killing, Democrats need to stop equivocating and act swiftly to stop violence. Republicans need to hold Trump accountable for ignoring disaster aid for political rivals, for lying about the 2020 election, and for his reckless words that seem to call for political violence.

Policing would gain community trust if law enforcement agencies forced out crooked or abusive officers.

And we all need to stop believing and spreading disinformation cooked up to divide us.

Holding ourselves accountable is about as fun as drinking castor oil. But sometimes we must take the medicine. It’ll benefit all of us in the long run.

Here’s to Election Day, a when we get to choose our leaders and continue to hold free and fair elections. Don’t forget to thank a poll worker.