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Brandon Adams
16 November, 2015
UNIV 200
Mr. Khoury
Deception in Politics
In the United States of America, we have to take politics pretty seriously in order to
achieve something. We, as Americans, have different opinions about things. In order to get those
opinions out into the open, we have to express our feelings about the matter in public. We try to
change things according to how we think they should be. That is the roll of most United States
politicians. They create ideas to solve problems, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Those ideas
can solve problems or, in fact, make them worse. By making them worse, the whole purpose of
the politician is defeated. Instead of solving a problem, another problem is created. When a
politician doesn’t do what he is meant to do, then he/she doesn’t need to be associated with
politics. There are plenty of politicians out there like that. They just have no idea what they are
doing, or they do and just refuse to admit that what they are doing is wrong.
A lot of the time, when a politician does something wrong, it involves lying in some form
to the public. Politicians are supposed to be trustworthy people to the public people. We, as
Americans should be able to put our complete faith in the politicians that we think can make a
difference. When politicians lie though, we can’t help but to begin disliking those particular
politicians. That makes it pretty hard for other politicians to positively achieve something
because people have already had their trust ruined by the other bad politicians.
To be a politician, a politician should never lie to the public. Lying to the public can do a
lot of damage. Are there any people that think lying can benefit them? Well yeah. But in the long
run, it will not end as well as if the truth would have been told. It is not okay for U.S. politicians
to lie to U.S. political supporters because it may negatively affect their relationships with U.S.
political supporters, negatively change the political perception or political views of those U.S.
political supporters, and can define the overall intent of the politician that is lying.
When a politician lies in U.S. politics, he/she negatively affects their relationships with
U.S. citizens. These are the people that get that politician into office, in most cases. Relationships
can be very hard to obtain. Political relationships may not be as important to many people, but it
is extremely important in the eyes of the politician and also for the politically active citizens.
Most people (including politicians) can work extremely hard to gain a good relationship
with someone. Also, relationships can be very important to a lot of people because relationships
can establish friendships and establish mutual friendships. Obviously, the friendships in politics
are probably going to be mutual. Those people understand and know the struggle of keeping and
maintaining a good relationship. Why ruin that good relationship by deceiving someone? In the
article, Are Liars Ethical? On the Tension between Benevolence and Honesty by Emma E.
Levine and Maurice E. Schweitzer, it states that “Lying harms interpersonal relationships,
induces negative affect, provokes revenge, and decreases trust” (107). “Interpersonal
relationships” are an important part of society, whether those relationships be with family and
friends, or with people you support and rely on. That “interpersonal relationship” may not be
face-to-face with a politician, but the status of that relationship can still affect the outcome of
elections or attendance at rallies. When a politician lies to the people supporting them, they could
easily ruin that relationship, depending on the issue that was lied about.
Now, most of anyone that lies, lies to benefit themselves. They think that they are doing
the best thing for them. In a way, that is pretty selfish, but it is true. In the article, Nobody Likes a
Rat: On the Willingness to Report Lies and the Consequences Thereof by Ernesto Reuben and
Matt Stephenson, it states that “Individuals are averse to lying (to varying degrees) but can be
tempted to lie when doing so is profitable enough” (384). No matter the situation, people are
always looking out for themselves, not thinking about the consequences. In a politician’s case, it
may be “profitable” at that moment for him/her, but when the truth comes out, it will create
negative tension on the relationship he/she has with their supporters, which, if not handled
correctly, could completely ruin the relationship.
Being able to trust someone is a very good perk of relationships, and even friendships. A
lot of people do not realize how important it is for honesty to be a part of any relationship. In
Neural correlates of evaluations of lying and truth-telling in different social contexts by
Dingcheng Wu, Ivy Chiu Loke, Fen Xu, and Kang Lee it says “The appropriateness of the
appraisal is extremely important because failure to appreciate the positivity or negativity of a
dishonest or honest statement can have far-reaching consequences to our social relation with
others (116).” Our “social relation with others” is a result of our positive or negative influence on
relationships. Basically, if we lie, we could greatly strengthen or greatly destroy our relationships
with others. If I was to tell someone that they are beautiful, but, sadly, they are ugly, that is
creating a better relationship with whoever I am telling that to. Politicians will do that. They will
take the side that they see benefits them the most. Also, what is done by a lot of politicians is a
concept called “sugar-coating”. Basically, instead of calling that person beautiful, I would simply
“sugar-coat” it by saying that they are beautiful on the inside. That still creates a better
relationship, but is not “as much” of a lie.
Most politicians worry about how their relationships are with the public, but they don’t
realize how much lying can affect those relationships. Politicians try so hard to try and get a
good reputation, but do not realize how easily their reputation can be negatively affected by the
littlest thing. In the article, Lies and politics by Marcia Clemmitt, it says “If deception and
mistrust prevail in politics, sound public policy and democracy could be the biggest losers”
(148). “Sound public policy” is basically a way of saying a good leader-follower relationship in
politics. When that leader deceives his/her followers, the followers may not want to follow that
leader anymore. That leader will have ruined that relationship with his followers. Politicians are
the so-called leaders and the U.S. citizens are the so-called followers. Politicians could turn the
“sound public policy” into a bad public policy.
Liars have to be careful not to get caught lying, so, therefore, must make a way to achieve
that. In the article, Outsmarting the liars: Toward a cognitive lie detection approach by Aldert
Vrij, Par Anders Granhag, Samantha Mann, and Sharon Leal, it states that “Liars will be more
inclined than truth tellers to monitor and control their demeanor in order to appear honest to the
investigator” (29). Basically, the liar understands the truth and the lie to fullest extent and has to
keep their mind set on the lie, so the truth does not get revealed. In politics, this task is hard. It is
extremely hard to keep a secret with the media. A lot of the time, the truth is revealed eventually.
When the truth is revealed, the supporters of the politician that lied begin to not trust what that
politician says, therefore, slowly ruining that relationship.
There may be instances where some supporters of a politician may get relatively close in
terms of a relationship to that politician. The supporters may think and act just like that politician
and may agree with everything that politician says. That is a great thing to have with someone
with authority. In the article, Lying and team incentives by Julian Conrads, Bernd Irlenbusch,
Rainer Michael Rilke, and Gari Walkowitz, it says that “Lying in terms of over-claimed words is
most pronounced under the target-based system as targets seem to encourage people to lie
particularly if one is close to the target” (2). This is a different kind of example. This example
shows how, possibly, the supporters of a politician can force the politician to lie. This is very
rare, but not impossible to achieve. When this happens, usually the politician receives e-mails, or
letters containing information that he/she should take into consideration. This type of lying can
ruin or strengthen the relationship between the politician and the supporters. If the politician lies,
and gives the people what they want, it could eventually come around and bite him/her in the
rear. When he/she would lie, he/she would only be taking other’s information into account, but
not his/her own. It could then ruin the political relationship between the supporters and the
politician because the lie could ruin the original purpose of the politician, leading to, once again,
a ruined relationship. Relationships are a big part of politics, but nobody really notices until their
relationship with a politician is ruined from a political lie.
Politicians can say things that can make the listener think differently about a certain
subject. Some may say that it is fine for them to lie, as long as it is not crazily important or
morally wrong. If it is changing how you think, isn’t that a bad lie? The way people think, or the
their views about politics has a major impact on how many votes a politician can get. A lot of the
time, politicians can lie to change how the listener thinks about a certain subject. Lying in
politics can negatively change the perception or views of the U.S. citizens that support a lying
politician. Another way of saying “change the perception” is to mislead.
As people, we live in a society where people tend to think they can tell someone
something, but not be telling the full truth, or be leaving something out of the statement to guide
the recipient in a different direction, without knowing all of the truth. In the article, Are Liars
Ethical? On the Tension between Benevolence and Honesty by Emma E. Levine and Maurice E.
Schweitzer, it states that “We define lies as false statements made with the intention of
misleading a target” (108). Misleading is the word I want to talk about. When you mislead
someone, you pretty much lie. Politicians will do this and make a person think that their thoughts
are the right ones. This is not only changing the perception of the listener, but the listener can
also change the perception of other listeners. In the article, A truth that’s told with bad intent: An
ERP study of deception by Ricardo E. Carrion, Julian P. Keenan, and Natalie Sebanz, it says that
“Humans deceive each other in many different ways: intentionally withholding information,
providing false information, and, sometimes, telling the truth in an attempt to mislead others,
which is effective when we have reason to assume that they are not going to believe us” (105).
Believing a lie is easy when you are already siding with the person you are listening to.
Therefore, that lie can easily make you think differently about a subject if you have already
bought into the person that is lying.
Most of the lies told can be based on opinions of the person telling them. In the article,
Nobody Likes a Rat: On the Willingness to Report Lies and the Consequences Thereof by
Ernesto Reuben and Matt Stephenson, it states that “Reporting the deceptive behaviors of others
is an act that arouses conflicting opinions” (384). Basically, when one lie is told, it can start a
debate or argument about the subject, leading to a change of perception for many people.
Starting that debate or argument can definitely change someone’s mind if they are proven wrong,
even if they are really right.
Knowing the story can make a lie very easy to make up. In the article, Outsmarting the
liars: Toward a cognitive lie detection approach by Aldert Vrij, Par Anders Granhag, Samantha
Mann, and Sharon Leal, it states that “A liar needs to invent a story and must monitor their
fabrication so that it is plausible and adheres to everything the observer or observers know or
might find out” (28-29). This means that the liar must keep the lie train rolling and not give
himself up. Politicians do this all the time by continuing to lie, one after the other. One lie can
change the perception of one aspect in someone’s mind, but one hundred lies about that same
subject could change that person’s perception on the entire subject.
The benefits of lying can go on and on, but a liar mostly lies to benefit themselves. In the
article, Lying and team incentives by Julian Conrads, Bernd Irlenbusch, Rainer Michael Rilke,
and Gari Walkowitz, it says that “People deceive more often the higher the own profit from lying
and the lower the loss for the deceived person” (1). This quote states that someone can lie to
“lower the loss for the deceived person.” Well, if you are only lowering the loss, but not
increasing the gain, what is the point of lying? The person being lied to is still going to receive a
loss either way. Politicians think like this when choosing to lie. They think, “Oh, well. Maybe
they will benefit as much as I will from this.” That isn’t always the case. The politician is most
likely changing the views of the listeners negatively because the listener is not being given the
truth.
Lying is not only done every now and then, it is done regularly by people that lie. In the
article, Lying relies on the truth by Evelyne Debey, Jan De Houwer, and Bruno Verschuere, it
states that “Lying is more cognitively demanding than truth telling” (324). This quote is very
true. This means people almost have to lie more than tell the truth because of the situations they
can get into on a daily basis. A politician can feel enormous amounts of pressure at certain times,
which may lead to him/her trying to get on the listener’s good side. By getting on their good side,
he/she is deceiving them, which will change how they think. Some people may think that their
minds cannot be changed or cannot be altered by a politician, but they can. Politicians have a lot
more power than most people think that they do. They can, in fact, change someone’s perception.
Perception is used every day on how people think, so it is better that politicians do not negatively
change that perception.
Now, let’s talk about political intentions and how lying in politics can define the overall
intent of the politician lying. In other words, does he have the best intentions in mind for U.S.
citizens and for this country? A lot of people think that when a politician does something bad,
he/she intends to do something good. That is most likely never the case. A lot of the time,
politicians will do something bad to satisfy other politicians or the majority of people supporting
them. This, therefore makes them a prosocial liar, meaning that they wish to do whatever the
people around them want them to do. Is that right? In the article, Are Liars Ethical? On the
Tension between Benevolence and Honesty by Emma E. Levine and Maurice E. Schweitzer, it
states that “Prosocial lying signals care for others (a positive moral signal), but also disregard for
the moral principle of honesty (a negative moral signal)” (108). What is really right? Honesty or
care. I guess the intentions of a politician that is lying for the care of the U.S. could be caring or
honesty. But, politicians should not lie in order to care for something. They need to find a
different alternative to let out the truth, but still tell people what they want to hear. Politicians
show better intentions doing that. They don’t take the easy way out. They work harder to create a
rightful solution without deceiving their followers.
In Neural correlates of evaluations of lying and truth-telling in different social contexts
by Dingcheng Wu, Ivy Chiu Loke, Fen Xu, and Kang Lee it says “A lie is statement made by a
speaker with the intention to instill a false belief into the mind of the listener (Chisholm and
Feehan, 1977). Thus, lie-telling involves two parties: the lie-teller, and the lie-recipient who the
lie-teller intends to deceive (115).” If a politician intends to deceive someone, then they would
not be worried about the well-being of U.S. citizens. Their intentions to be dishonest could lead
to even worse intentions.
In the article, A truth that’s told with bad intent: An ERP study of deception by Ricardo
E. Carrion, Julian P. Keenan, and Natalie Sebanz, it says that “Although previous findings
suggest that increased demands on cognitive control arise selectively when individuals make
counterfactual statements, the current findings demonstrate that deceptive intent is critical”
(109). “Deceptive intent is critical.” That statement says a lot. A lot of the time, people that are
supporting a politician will judge his character and what he says. When he lies and gets caught,
they could turn against him because their judgements on his/her actions leave them with no other
choice.
A politician that intends to be deceptive should know better and come up with something
that will benefit people. In the article, Lies and politics by Marcia Clemmitt, it says “President
Obama told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly that he “didn't raise taxes once” — a claim that
PolitiFact rated “False,” noting “numerous instances when he has” (147). This is only an
example, but this example can show a lot about Obama’s intent. He lied. He intended to say
something that was not true. A lot of people criticize Fox News, but this actually came out a few
times a few years ago on other news networks.
When someone is lying, they usually have the truth hidden in the back of their head in
order to counteract the truth. In the article, Outsmarting the liars: Toward a cognitive lie
detection approach by Aldert Vrij, Par Anders Granhag, Samantha Mann, and Sharon Leal, it
states that “Liars will be more inclined than truth tellers to monitor and control their demeanor in
order to appear honest to the investigator” (29). A politician could intend to not get caught lying.
That shows that they know that what they are doing is wrong and that they lied. Those intentions
should never be shown, especially by politicians. They may think that they are doing the absolute
best for people, but truly, they aren’t. They are just making the entire situation worse.
Some politicians may think that they should lie to satisfy a big group of people. In the
article, Lying and team incentives by Julian Conrads, Bernd Irlenbusch, Rainer Michael Rilke,
and Gari Walkowitz, it says that “Lying under the team incentive scheme might be
psychologically easier because this compensation scheme promotes diffusion of one’s own
responsibility” (2). Basically, this means that someone will lie because they believe that what
they are lying about not only benefit themselves, but a big group of people that associate with
them as well. This could definitely be a politician’s case. Politicians will lie about public policy
and about things that people wish to make better. To some people, in order to make things better,
a political lie must be told. They think that a lie that people want to hear is better than a truth that
people don’t want to hear.
Political intentions are a big part of campaigning and rallying for most politicians. If they
lie, they are showing bad intentions no matter what the situation. Politicians have a job to do just
like the rest of us, but their job can disappoint a lot of people and lose those people as followers,
especially if they have the wrong intentions.
Loss of relationships, change in perception, and intentions are things that can be affected
by political lying. Lying is bad in politics. No matter the situation. Lies are very hard to get away
with unless you are high up in the food chain, but those lies are bound to come out sometime,
whether it be sooner or later. Lies create bad situations and bad situations should not be put
forward in politics. A lie is not told by a truthful person. A lie is mostly told by liars. Some
politicians are known as liars and have the reputation of being a liar. Those are not the kind of
politicians America needs. We need faithful, genuine, truthful, and problem-solving politicians.
Politicians that will do anything to do what is right by telling the truth and being upfront with all
of the United States citizens. Being a leader is a very hard job, but being a truthful leader is
harder. A truthful leader is very hard to come by, so therefore, we need to keep any truthful
leader we can find. That includes truthful politicians.