A surgeon who falsifies a patient record loses their license. A lawyer who lies to a judge is disbarred. Yet the officials with the most power to cause systemic harm through official falsehood face no equivalent standard.
The United States has no institution whose job is to ensure that people in positions of public trust pay a meaningful professional cost for stating empirically false things in their official capacities. This is not a failure of character — it is a failure of institutional design.
The Candor Project proposes a two-track framework for federal officeholders and licensed broadcasters, administered by an independent epistemic oversight body, modeled on the professional accountability standards already embedded in American law.
Politicians
Federal officeholders — from the President and Congress to the Cabinet and federal judges — who establish a documented pattern of verifiable falsehoods in their official capacity face professional disqualification. Not criminal prosecution. Not fines. Loss of eligibility to hold office, as a condition of professional fitness.
The Media
Public broadcasters receiving federal funding and licensed broadcasters operating on public spectrum are subject to binding editorial standards, standardized correction policies, and clear opinion labeling. All outlets must publicly disclose ownership, funding, and political contributions by parent companies.
Constitutionally Defensible
The framework does not criminalize speech. It conditions the exercise of public office and broadcast license — privileges granted by the state — on a baseline of professional fitness.
Structurally Nonpartisan
Independence is not claimed — it is built in. Staggered appointments, supermajority confirmation, explicit exclusion of politicians and party officials, and a mandate that applies symmetrically across parties.
Narrow in Scope
The framework reaches only empirically falsifiable claims where the evidentiary record is unambiguous. Opinion, policy judgment, contested science, and forward-looking predictions are explicitly excluded.
Modest in Consequence
The oversight body documents. It does not punish. Its findings are evidentiary inputs for existing institutions — ethics committees, licensing boards, electoral authorities — which retain the sole power to act.