Garaj Mahal
24-05-2004, 18:26
In North America opinion polls always tell us that we're all disillusioned and disgusted with the political process - because "all politicians are liars".
But if a politician was completely truthful, would he/she stand any chance of being elected? I don't think so.
It seems to me that the electorate *wants* to be lied to. We can't accept that there are certain basic, unpleasant rules governing all societies - and we want governments that can somehow wave a magic wand and give us a country that doesn't have to follow those rules.
One basic rule is that if you want to live in a safe, healthy, educated and compassionate country with functioning modern infrastructure - you have to pay taxes to support that. Lots of taxes.
Instead, we want to have that kind of a country *without* paying nearly enough taxes to support it. Well, that's just impossible but we just can't face that truth. We want a free ride that just can't happen.
So instead we ask politicians to lie to us. We beg them, "Please tell us you'll cut our taxes way down, and keep everything running just as well as before. And don't get the country further into debt either. If you promise us this, we'll vote for you despite that making no sense".
So politicians are happy to comply, lying to us because that's what we want them to do.Back to top
But if a politician was completely truthful, would he/she stand any chance of being elected? I don't think so.
It seems to me that the electorate *wants* to be lied to. We can't accept that there are certain basic, unpleasant rules governing all societies - and we want governments that can somehow wave a magic wand and give us a country that doesn't have to follow those rules.
One basic rule is that if you want to live in a safe, healthy, educated and compassionate country with functioning modern infrastructure - you have to pay taxes to support that. Lots of taxes.
Instead, we want to have that kind of a country *without* paying nearly enough taxes to support it. Well, that's just impossible but we just can't face that truth. We want a free ride that just can't happen.
So instead we ask politicians to lie to us. We beg them, "Please tell us you'll cut our taxes way down, and keep everything running just as well as before. And don't get the country further into debt either. If you promise us this, we'll vote for you despite that making no sense".
So politicians are happy to comply, lying to us because that's what we want them to do.Back to top