Do you know how to tell when a politician is lying? Well.....do you? His (or her) lips are moving? Yep! That is it. When a politician is speaking, there is a reasonable chance s/he is lying. Pure and simple! "NO WAY!!!" you say! "MY ELECTED LEADER is an honest person," you insist! Let me tell you why politicians lie: They have to do it. It is in their job description....a job requirement. Because of how our political system functions, a politician, in order to get elected, must tell each of us what we want to hear. And with so many divergent 'wants' in a democracy [1] [2], the politician has to tell one group one thing and another group another thing...and it is not possible to complete all that is told. Likely, many politicians sincerely hope or want to complete every promise (while others are just outright fabricating), but completion becomes impossible in the greater workings of the political landscape. {I know...we were/are supposed to be a republic, but.....]
Sad as it is that politicians lie, the reason they lie is even worse. We, the electorate, force them to lie. So basically the electorate, you and I, are co-conspirators with the politicians in the dishonesty process. Now I have your ire up....right?!!? You may choose to be irritated or even angry and want to write a comments, but the truth is, we require the politicians to lie to us.
Why? How? Says who? We are all basically selfish! We want what we want...and we do not care much about what other people want. We believe we are right and the other guy, if she or he does not agree with us, is wrong! The recent California Proposition 8 was a monumental example. I wanted Prop 8 my way and the opposition wanted Prop 8 their way. There was no cooperative effort between the two sides to find an agreeable middle ground. NOPE! It was just: See who could stack up enough votes to win or "prove they are right."
Most of us do not really care what the other person needs or believes. We say we do, but in truth we do not. If we did really care, then our effort with our politician would be to expect him or her to find the best for both of us...but that is not usually the case. WE WANT WHAT WE WANT (or what we believe is right) and the rest of the world can go suck an egg! I know there are individuals who care and there are pockets and small groups that make the cooperative effort, but in a general sense (at the level needed to get a politician elected) prove to me I am wrong. Show me even one major example.
[By the way, the essential operational paradigm of a psychopath is the lack of concern for the welfare of others and the selfish effort to satisfy one's own desires. Often it is done with a kindly smile on the face of the psychopath, but the heart is cold and calculating.]