Hypocrites!

The problem is that it’s comparatively easy to fire an employee who lies on his application. But a politician? Try firing him once he gets elected. At that point, all you as a voter can do is sound like a whiner and a complainer: “What did you expect?” “All politicians lie,” etc. It goes like this: If the politician lies, it’s not really his fault: It’s only your fault when you believe him.

And so I’ve been thinking about it: “All politicians lie.” That statement seems to be the only opinion consistently held by voters all across the political spectrum. “All politicians lie.” Great, so what are you going to tell me next? “Cats have claws, babies cry, and spheres are round. Thanks for the insight.”

It’s not that we’ve come to view lying politicians as acceptable. No, rather, we’ve come to embrace them as inevitable. We’re no longer shocked at the lies. It’s almost as if we’re reassured. “O look, he’s lying! Good, the sun will come up tomorrow, and all is right with the world.”

So we vote for liars for our leaders, and justify it by saying that we can accept that in our leaders, since the other side lies too.

We complain about our lying leadership. But the fact is that we the people have become even bigger hypocrites, because we will get what we vote for. We are hypocrites because we say that we hold politicians to a higher standard, while in reality we hold them to the lowest standard possible. We are hypocrites because we attack the other side for lying, even while we defend our side for the same thing. And finally, we are hypocrites—and this is most insidious—for blessing them when they lie while running for office, and cursing them for lying while they serve in office.

So shame on the liars that run for political office.

Even bigger shame on us who vote for them.

~ Joel Saint