What Does it Matter? All Politicians Lie.
For all the political coverage and obsession with all things politics, interviews with power brokers, pundits, partisans and political operatives; we never discuss the big elephant in the room. That a significant and prominent segment of the electorate is cynical about all politicians. An election is throwing out the current crop of bums to replace them with a new crop of bums.
Water cooler discourse about politics almost always leads to the following exchange. “I don’t like [X] because they lied about [Y]” prompts a “All politicians lie, voting for someone else won’t change anything.” response.
At it’s heart, there is truth, all politicians lie. Because all humans lie. We all do it. Expecting politicians to not lie is like expecting spouses to be 100% truthful about everything to each other. Not gonna happen.
What matters is what motivates the lie, and I always try to identify the willful lie. The lie used as a weapon to disadvantage an opponent and to promote ones own interests. These are the dangerous lies.
Much has been written about how Newt Gingrich changed politics. He weaponized lying to ensure Republican dominance of the United States of America. By doing so, he “stripped American politics of the civilizing traits it had developed over time.”
This rot that took over the most powerful conservative party on the planet did not stay contained in the USA. It has spread beyond American borders because it works. Deliberate weaponized lying is at heart a malicious and hateful practice. In a world of reason, the world the enlightenment tried to create, weaponized lying is an evil that destroys all that rational humanists hold dear. There is no more honest debate, because one side refuses to be honest, and delights in being dishonest.
In Canada, Stephen Harper used weaponized lying frequently and quite effectively. I recall from the experience of living under his governments, that Stephen Harper the Politician was a more vicious animal than Stephen Harper the political theorist when interviewed. He would change his role and present the vicious animal when most effective to rally support. Stephen Harper changed politics in Canada as he absorbed lessons from Newt Gingrich’s America.
Unfortunately this lesson has jumped to the progressive parties as well. Though maybe out of a somewhat less broken moral compass, it has happened in a less effective way. Liberals are more adroit at it than NDP politicians. It is downright cringeworthy when Jagmeet Singh uses this technique.
Regardless of the comfort level with weaponized lying, the rot it has created as a political strategy has permeated all of the major political parties in Canada. The evil it engenders has spread and has corrupted politics at every level, beyond that of the more banal human propensity for lies. This makes it hard to view the future with any sense of optimism. We are on a slippery slope to a dark and corrupt place, and we have no sense of how to stop it. The USA is in a long protracted stalemate between bitter political camps and may be on the verge of civil war. Such is the damage that weaponized lying has wrought.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s political career flamed out because he’s a disciple of the Newt Gingrich school of politics. His particular problem was that he thought he could lie to his supporters and his political opponents.
Which brings us to the current crop of contenders for the federal Conservative party leadership. Much to the dismay of many, Patrick Brown, a faint hope at best, has ditched all efforts at being an honest pragmatist and has adopted the malicious lie to win support. During his tenure as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, he had evolved towards the traditional honest politician. One that could be reasoned with. And he was ousted and replaced with Doug Ford. The lessons Patrick Brown learned were all the wrong ones.
Doug Ford is a habitual liar. But he is different. Because he is a genuine moron. Like Donald Trump he believes the bullshit that spews from his lips. To be clear, Donald Trump is at the extreme end of the moronic scale of humanity, amongst many disgusting human traits. Doug Ford is not Donald Trump. But like Donald Trump, he is a god damned moron.
I called Doug Ford a genuine moron, because people latch onto the genuine aspect of his personality in a world of fake politicians. But at our peril because they ignore the moron part of the evaluation. It does not matter if the people elect a genuine moron or a disingenuous moron, having a moron in a position of power is really bad idea. But such is the desire for someone genuine, someone folksy, where his “heart is in the right place” that people are willing to overlook the moron side. Even the politically astute people that cover everything politics fall for his folksy genuine charm. His lies have charm, because they are honest lies.
Doug Ford is not the same class of evil as the weaponized liar. The evil that he has done arises as an effect rather than a deliberate calculation. But this is a minor distinction. When you suffer from evil acts, do you really care if the perpetrator’s heart was in the right place or not? The distinction only matters in how to combat it.
Who truly scares me is Pierre Poilievre.
This man is genuinely evil. He is intelligent, which is the danger. He knows the damage his lies cause, and he does not care. He wants to be on top, and will sacrifice anything and anyone to get there. The world can burn as long as he has the throne.
And this is why I care about why a politician lies. Every politician lies because every human lies. But those that weaponize lying are perverting the worst parts of humanity to destroy anything that lies between them and their goals.
And when it comes to Pierre Poilievre, I fear he is worse than Stephen Harper in that regard. I do believe that Stephen Harper loves Canada in his way.
This monster? He would burn Canada to the ground and laugh while doing it. It only matters to him that he is the one holding the flamethrower. His lies matter. Why he lies matters.
