Why Do Politicians Lie?

A textbook example of a politician lying is Nikki Haley’s big lie about the Iranian deal. Another big lie is George Bush’s lie about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and “arsenal of terror”. Why do politicians lie?

A web search reveals many explanations that are reasonably familiar, such as here, here, and here.

But there’s an explanation that’s missing. Haley is lying because Trump wants her to, and he wants her to lie because he wants to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal. Bush lied because he wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein. In both cases, the lie involves fixing a story or the “intelligence” around the policy that the lying politician wants in the first place. The reason for the lie is the desire to exercise power on behalf of some end the person wants. The desirability or even feasibility of that end cannot be truthfully argued or demonstrated, and so the politician lies to facilitate the policy’s acceptance.

The object of being in power is the ability to do what one desires, regardless of whether or not a case can be made for one’s aim and regardless of constraints. Power is wanted so that it can be wielded according to the whim, bias or arbitrary belief of the officeholder. Power is wanted by a Clinton, a Bush, and a Trump in order that they may get their personal way. They lie to help them get their idiosyncratic way. This may be true of everyone, to some extent, but powerful government officials intend to gain power so that they can do what they want while facing fewer and lesser of the restraints and constraints that are placed upon the rest of us. They desire to indulge their personal passions and beliefs, and they attain a position where they can. This means they choose more ends that cater to their prejudices but that cannot be justified as worthwhile to others. The result is that to get their way they’ll lie more often than the rest of us who do not wield their power. They’ll get away with more lies because a person in power can hide and distort information unavailable to the rest of us. That power encourages more lying too.

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1:38 pm on September 14, 2017