Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Why politicians lie
There has been a lot of discussion of lying and deception during this election season. While this election is unique in a lot of ways, it is not the first to include lying politicians. This article examines some reasons behind these lies. In order to facilitate deals, politicians may have to keep private views and public views separate. Politicians may also take advantage of public ignorance by lying about details of policies, overstating benefits and understating costs, or lying about ones own past. For example, Obama and Dick Cheney concealed their private support of same-sex marriage until public and political attitudes shifted. The article gives examples of several other Republicans and Democrats who have participated in lying throughout campaign cycles. Do you think lying is an inevitable and necessary part of the political process for candidates to achieve success? Is it an ethical political strategy? Do you believe their are any current politicians or present/former candidates innocent of lying?
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Yes, I believe lying is an inevitable part of every election. We, as the american public, probably would not elect a candidate who had a starkly different opinion than that of the public. Lying allows candidates to be more ambiguous in their views, so when the truth comes out later, their original statements can be reinterpreted. Also, I think this topic poses the question of if withholding an opinion is as "bad" as lying about it?
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that lying is an ethical political strategy, but when it comes down to it, each and every one of us lies at some point to protect someone else (or ourselves), or to prevent hurt feelings/conflict.
I think lying is an inevitable part of the political process for candidates to achieve success, but there has to be a limit on the amount of lying that is done. Currently, we have two candidates for president that are notorious for lying, but Clinton's view of the world is mostly grounded in truth whereas Trump's lies are so crazy that he sounds like he is from a parallel universe. I think lying can be ethical in politics if it will lead to a greater good, like ending racial segregation, as the article noted Eisenhower did. However, politicians will undoubtedly lie to win even if they are just serving their self-interest. Even Sanders, who tried to act like the "bigger person" compared to the corruption of most politicians, lied to voters by misleading them about the costs of his economic proposals. It is really up to the electorate and media to keep the candidates honest so the lying will be minimized as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get to high levels in the political food chain I think lying is a necessary evil. Is this ethically wrong? Yes. But unfortunately in our political scene I think that’s usually just the way it goes. Sometimes it can benefit the American people, other times it can endanger us or simple annoy us. As a way to get votes, seem more likeable, and appeal to more people politicians often where a mask, some colored contacts, or in some cases a whole morph suit in order to gain votes. Fact checkers allow voters (in most cases) to see if a politician is lying, which can be useful. I can’t think of a politician who hasn’t/doesn’t lie or use deception during politics. Even Bernie Sanders, a loyal, grassroots politician, has said false statements. Almost everyone lies; politicians do too. It can be unsettling, but it isn’t surprising.
ReplyDeleteObviously lying is ethically wrong and if you ask me whether I am in support of it or okay with it I would just as obviously say no. That said, it is inevitable in politics. Everyone is guilty of lying. You could argue that because we all do it and have done it for centuries, especially in politics, lying is impossible to eradicate. However, you could also argue that one cannot succeed if one does not try. I think that using lying as a political strategy is unfair, but I also think that if the public doesn't care enough to see if what politicians are saying is true, then it is their own fault. Is it the public's job to fact-check politicians? How can we fact check everything? Should politicians face a punishment for lying even if the lies are to help a majority? I think that to discourage misinforming the public, we should fact-check for the public.
ReplyDelete1. Yes.
ReplyDelete2. No.
3. No.
Lying is completely unethical practice, but sadly it has become the norm in politics. Everyone is guilty of lying, for example, I told Sam Rose we were best friends last Friday. Lying in politics is usually meant to promote someone's public image thought their political views, like Obama did with same-sex marriage. You could argue this is wrong, or you could argue it was beneficial to Obama's approval ratings in a time where America may not have been ready to accept these believes from a president. With the focus on fact-checking during this election, I'm glad that those who apply themselves have the opportunity to seek the truth in the mountains of dirty lies.
Lying is present everywhere in politics, and probably always will be, but it is definitely unethical. It is seen so often in politics probably due to the fact that almost every word a politician says is recorded somewhere by someone. It is also used as a strategy, as the article showed with Obama. Although it is not ethical, it seems to be necessary to a certain degree to ascend the political ladder.
ReplyDeleteLying is necessary in politics. Is it ethical? It depends. Lying is not ethical, but not stating an opinion or choosing a more moderate opinion is. Opinions change and politicians need to take up a koderate stance to appeal to voters. However, a complete change of opinion is lying, which is wrong. Lying is something everyone does because if they tell the truth, they won't get the majority because they are not moderate enough. I think that both candidates are lying to some degree in this election. Trump has switched his opinion so many times that I don't know whether or not to believe his opinion now. Also, he says stuff that's just wrong, but I'm not sure if that's lying or being incorrect. Hillary also has adapted a more moderate view on some issues and kept her real views out of the public eye, which isn't exactly lying, but it's a small degree of it. Also, her email scandal implies that she may have something to hide and could be lying about something.
ReplyDeleteLying is something that all politicians do. That is just something you need to do in order to be good in the field. If a politician only tells the truth, many people would find him or her unappealing. Most of the time, it is better to hold off telling the truth or stretching it so it is more appetizing to the general public. Is it ethical? Technically no, but it still is necessary. Also, if a politician lied and no one found out, no one would bat an eye. However, if the politician lied and everyone found out through a leak or something of that sort, the public would freak out even though if it wasn't exposed, they wouldn't have done anything. To solve the problem of lying, a politician would just need more loyal staff and better security. Joking only.
ReplyDeleteLying in politics is expected and necessary. I don't think I've ever heard of a politician who hadn't told a lie somewhere along the line. I think to get elected into office the politician must lie, whether the lies are monumental and may turn scores of voters away from them if the truth came out, or if the lies are just exploitations of the less informed public. However, I do not think it is ethical. I rarely think lying is ethical, the only lies I would feel comfortable deeming ethical are white lies, but I don't think in poltics there is such a thing as a white lie. Your lie effects people, and sometimes it's for the better of the people, but someone out there is still going to be mad about the fact that you lied. Some people hated Obama-care, and likely his concealing of the facts just made it worse for those people. I feel as if lying has just become part of politics as much as fixing issues for the people is. In order to get elected, you need to appeal to the largest voter base you can, and most of the times politicians need to lie or stretch the truth to do this. It's not ethical, it's not normally moral, but it's necessary.
ReplyDeleteI don't think my opinion is that unique in believing that lying in politics is a necessary evil. I hate it, but quite frankly, if one were to be completely honest and open and 100% transparent to the public, I think that people wouldn't be able to earn enough votes from people who now know too much information about said candidate. In this election, we see that people don't care about lying in both major candidates, but one of the candidates who is viewed as the most trustworthy and honest (Gary Johnson) is barely even in the race. Lying is by no means an ethical strategy at all, but unfortunately it is a very effective strategy, allowing politicians to twist their words and stances to appeal to the broadest viewer base possible, as long as said people are uninformed about what the real truth is. I think that you would be hard pressed to find a politician who didn't lie to the press, or didn't engage in shady tactics / dealings just to cooperate with their peers.
ReplyDeleteLying is going to happen no matter what we try to do about it. I will always be slightly appalled when I hear that yet another politician has lied about their stance on whatever even though every single one of them is going to lie about one thing or another. Some lies aren't all bad. If something is conveniently omitted to get more people to support a policy that is going to help more citizens than hurt them, it is okay. If a politician is total dud and they tell a lie that leads to their complete undoing, that's fine by me. Lying is not ethical and as I already said I'm sure everyone in office has lied to get something done.
ReplyDeleteLying is inevitable in politics. It may be unfortunate but it is a fact of the game. Personally, I do not believe it is ethical in political campaign. The lying obstructs from their true agenda that they will pursue in their elected office, and that is not right. The voter should vote on who has the best agenda, and if they lie about their agenda, the voter cannot truly decide. That being said, it can be ethical to withhold the truth, such as the Dick Cheney-Obama example (side note, it was funny that the offer used "coming out of the closet" when talking about same-sex marriage. Most likely intentional). If you withhold a particular policy but do not lie about it, then you are just attempting to please the electorate without abandoning your ideals, something that is perfectly fine in my opinion. Furthermore, if you have to lie to get something positive done, as long as it is not a fundamental lie, while it is not ethical, it is not necessarily bad, just unfortunate (such as the ACA lie). I do not condone lying in politics, I just find it inevitable, and I believe every politician has lied.
ReplyDeleteYes, lying is inevitable, as many of my classmates have stated. It's also unethical. However, I find a distinct difference between lying through omission, such as concealing support for this or that, and lying by giving false information. Both can become equally as bad, depending on circumstances (hiding things that can affect everyone is much worse than hiding an affair you had when you were ten). I'm very doubtful that there's a 100% truthful candicate out there; as of late, many candidates flip flop on multiple issues depending on social circumstances, making the idea of lying by ommission become all the more appealing. Lying is overall unethical, however, if each candidate told nothing but their mind to the voters, I have a feeling that overall approval for candidates would go down. (this is ignoring Mr. Trump, who seems to have been the exceptions to many common, logical hypotheses)
ReplyDeleteYour last question seems almost rhetorical, Jay. Both candidates in this presidential election have undoubtedly made deceit a component of their campaigns (though with variance in transparency). One needs only to look as far as any fact-checking site like Politico to see just how many statements these candidates have made that either skirt truth or forgo it altogether. Unfortunately, this is an issue that nearly every American politician is faced with. In order to be a successful candidate, one must appeal to a massive voter base of decisively different political views. Additionally, these demographics of people change as an election shifts from the primary/ caucus stage to a general election. As a result, successful politicians must tailor their message and visible stances to the group they need at the time, be it more extreme voters in a primary or moderates in November. While some candidates take this to an extreme unethical level, I don't think it's possible to avoid it entirely.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting question and is just as thought provoking even if I am responding very very very late (sorry Mr. Danson).
ReplyDeleteIn a hypothetical optimal world, then politicians would never lie to the people. We do not live in said optimal world. Politicians will always be lying, and that's just what's expected at this point. In class we had a quick discussion of whether politicians go into politics because of there desire to do good and help others or because of greed and power hunger. This question can be applied to lying as well. Because lying is practically inevitable, I hope that politicians lie because they intend to help people and aid the country through that lie instead of lying to gain power out of greed.