Adapted from Alice in Wonderland: The politician said: ‘I say what I mean’ is not the same thing as ‘I mean what I say.’ That would be like saying ‘I breathe when I lie’ is the same thing as ‘I lie when I breathe.’ The voter replied: For you, it is the same thing.
What triggered this thought was an article on the latest shake-up in the McCain campaign. Following declining poll numbers, disappointing fund raising and a cutback in staff, McCain’s campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver have now resigned. Not to worry. McCain, in speaking to reporters, stated: “I think we’re doing fine. I’m very happy with the campaign the way it is.”
Now you know that this is simply not true. McCain knows it. The reporters he is speaking to know it. And the voters know it. But McCain says it anyway. Why? Because he has to. What if he had actually spoken the truth and said something like: “My campaign is crumbling around me. While there may still be a chance that I can win this nomination, it’s a slim one. And if we don’t start turning things around soon, slim will be leaving the building.” Just making that statement would become a snowballing self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, perceiving that even the candidate sees his chances as close to zero, financial support will completely dry up and voters will abandon him faster than you can say “It’s been nice knowing you.” The result is that his truthful statement would actually precipitate his demise. His only hope of winning the nomination is to lie. The crazy thing about this is that it actually works—it actually does prevent defections—even though we all know he is lying.
Of course, it rarely affects the final outcome. As the article goes on to state: “Republicans are all but counting him out.” And my guess is that McCain will soon be exiting stage left. Still, it’s the best the candidate can do. We live in a system that requires lying to get elected. It’s no wonder that the behavior continues should the candidate be fortunate enough to actually win the election.
True, this phenomenon is not just limited to politics. We see it in the business world, when the CEO of a company on the verge of bankruptcy says how satisfied he is with the progress the company is making. We even see it in personal interactions. After a person gets fired from a job, they may say: “It’s all for the best; I needed to get out of that place anyway.” There’s a fine line between making the best of a bad situation and telling a lie. It’s a line that too often gets crossed.
But the lying still seems especially onerous in politics. What is particularly sad is how the public has become tolerant not only of these “white lies” but much larger lies as well. When the Bush administration is caught in any one of its numerous falsehoods, the response from the public at large is often a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say “Yup. That’s about what we expected.” The sense of outrage, the demand that something be done about it—it’s just not there any more. And so we get pretty much what we deserve.