I am convinced that people who are completely enamored by politicians want to be lied to. If truthful politicians were a species, they would be endangered and protected more fiercely than the panda bear. There is a certain level of pretentiousness that surrounds someone who has to try to get a whole community, city, or country of people to like them. On one hand, they are just as biased and as judgmental as the next person but on the other hand they pretend to be different things to different people. They have to mold themselves to be appealing to  the masses. I know myself and I think I have a good grasp on the  nature  of humans, because of this I know I can never wholeheartedly trust a politician. I don’t think politicians necessarily want to lie, they must often feel as if they are being backed into a corner.  They feel they have to lie in order to get people to trust them enough to do a job only a few people want to do or are capable of doing.  Isn’t it ironic that they lie to gain trust?

There is always outcry when it is revealed that  a politician has messed up, publicly.  People want apologies and they want heads to roll.  I say what is the point? If said politician meant to do what he did, when he did it, what is the point of an apology?  I’d venture a guess that no politician is ever truly sorry for  living his life how he wants to, however, they are always sorry that they are caught. As long as  the politician does the job that he is elected to do, I could give two shits if he cheats on his wife, likes men or likes to have people pee on him.  If he is cheating tax payers in anyway or doing them a disservice, then there is a problem.   If he breaks the laws as they apply to everyone else, then there is a problem.  But that’s just me.

Usually, after a politician gets caught in a lie that has nothing to do with politics,  he apologizes, the media gets a sound bite that is played and analyzed  for several days and the public gets to pretend that they or someone  they know  has not done something similar to what the politician is accused of doing. The hypocrisy of the whole cycle is mind boggling. People want  to be lied to.   Who among us is qualified to judge another person’s morality?  I know I’m not and I don’t  know anyone that fits the bill.

Somewhere along the line it seems as if  a “life hand book” was drawn up (and I am not referring to any religious books), and various self righteous sanctimonious individuals, whether they are to the left or the right, appointed themselves as enforcer of the hand book rules.  The only problem is, no one can follow the rules. Some people are better liars than others, they have better PR people and  more money, so, to the very gullible public they seem cleaner  and less morally inept than the average human being.

Politicians are liars because we are all liars in one way or another.  Politicians are fallible because we are all fallible.  We are more alike than we are different and we all have similar urges, some of us choose to ignore or suppress them, some of us give in to them and some of us channel our energy into ensuring those who indulge are made to feel inferior, substandard or immoral.  Politicians have adapted to harsh environment and constant close scrutiny. They may not have started out as liars, but they have developed a method for survival and unfortunately, none of us are the better for it.