Why do politicians say things that aren’t true? Information comes out seemingly every day about things politicians say that are untrue, can’t be verified or imaginary. It’s a bit strange; I like to believe that for the most part, we like people to tell us the truth. We instruct our children on the importance of being honest, punish them when they stray from the truth and celebrate their honesty when they come clean in light of a “bad” situation.
The truth about lying is probably more troubling than anything. Ready for it? Politicians tell us what we want to hear or blur the facts because – drum roll, please – that’s what we want.
OK, I expect a few of you to be incensed by the fact that you’ve just been told that you like being lied to. But with federal elections looming on both sides of the border, there is plenty of fodder. Here are a few quotes to ponder:
“Self-deception is a type of motivated irrationality – the art of believing something simply because it is desired to be true when evidence points to the very opposite.” – Dr. Anna Galeotti, University of East Piedmont, Italy. “In our politics, telling the truth gets you in trouble,” according to The Toronto Star, while former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff called politics a “dirty, loud-mouthed, false, lying business.”
Our politicians tell us all sorts of things, such as, “Elect me and I’ll make sure everyone gets a job,” or “I’ll eliminate homelessness,” or “I’ll cut taxes.” We listen to these assertions, decide which of them we like the best, then pony up our vote accordingly. We accept the premise that these prophesies are the gospel truth, then spend the next few years grumbling about unfulfilled promises. When the next election rolls around, we do it all over again.
The reality is that jobs come from a robust economy and that is influenced more by global events than by any one politician. Homelessness has been around forever and is an outcome of a society that cares more about self-preservation than sharing wealth. With health-care costs rising, infrastructure crumbling and more people retiring (which means they will pay less tax), it’s tough to cut taxes. We don’t like to accept these facts, so we choose to stick our heads in the sand and listen to what we want to be true. In politics, every promise has an ending written by Disney.
Closer to home, Mayor Patricia Heintzman was quoted as saying prior to the last municipal election, “We have too many middle management and I don’t think we are big enough, so there is a lot of streamlining to happen. We need to rightsize.” In reference to the oceanfront deal, her view was, “We didn’t get value for our money.” Assuming that she believed those words, one would expect to see a large reduction in middle management staff and the oceanfront deal scuttled, with an eye on getting more value for the millions of taxpayer dollars that the District of Squamish has spent on that development.
So what happened? The books aren’t closed on the employee count in 2015, so who knows if several district middle managers have been given their walking papers? We’ll find our soon enough. The existing oceanfront deal, while delayed, is approaching final reading and acceptance by the mayor and council.
So go ahead, continue to fear the facts and accept the promised rosy future. But when it doesn’t come true, realize that politicians tell what we want to hear because we reward them for doing so.
