Why Leaders Lie

Posted by khalling 8 years, 8 months ago to Politics
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An extremely astute article on the state of American politics. I think worth the time to read and then discuss.

Jerome Huyler is a former assistant professor at Seton Hall University. He earned his PhD in political science from the New School University in 1992 and his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, where he majored in philosophy. He is also the author of: Locke in America: The Moral Philosophy of the Founding Era. And Everything You Have: The Case Against Welfare.


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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think that Trump would excite people to try harder, like a coach. Hillary would excite people to look for more free stuff that others would pay for, and therefore incite the producers to work LESS hard.

    Either one cant do a lot on their own- it takes the congress to agree and most likely it will be divided. Therefore, the promises made by either candidate cant be taken too seriously (EVER) for that reason. Congress seem not to agree on anything really except perhaps a declaration of war after some intense and sneaky attack (like Pearl Harbor).
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  • Posted by wiggys 8 years, 8 months ago
    The first sentence of the last paragraph states "there is no final truth or objective reality".. To bad the guy did not study the teaching of Ayn Rand. The pity is only a very few have studied Ayn Rand and therefore know there is truth and OBJECTIVE REALITY. I have gotten to the point of believing the population of the western world is just dumb. My proof is what is visible each and everyday.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    On CNBC today a guest was discussing which candidate would be better for the economy.
    He claimed that it was impossible to know because both candidates blatantly lie.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wasn't aware that the story was a fable. Even as a fable the integrity of an individual was the message. You are correct , Lincoln's honesty is a virtue sorely lacking amongst today's con artists.
    Thanks Blarman have a great day!
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 8 months ago
    Truth is not subjective. Truth is either reality or it is not truth. Truth is also work. Why? Because nothing can be accepted as truth without verification. When you were 10, whatever mom or dad said was truth. In your teens, if you are reading this, you probably questioned everything your parents said, driving them nuts as you sought the truth. And most often, when you discovered one untruth, you felt compelled to question everything. Politicians have come to the conclusion that most people cannot tell the difference between a truth and a lie. They are too lazy or too busy. They also know that when a person achieves a certain status, people just take their word for it. "If Senator Batson Belfry says it, it must be true." Then of course, there is the oblivious person, who is the person of the unexamined life. It may not be worth living, but they don't even know it.
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  • Posted by H2ungar123 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Would not seem foreign to most of us? Well, I
    am not there yet but if it does happen (?) it will
    be abhorrent to most of us !
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  • Posted by Esceptico 8 years, 8 months ago
    Excellent article. It also gives insight as to why the fight against ISIS won't win using the strategy used for the last 70 years and we must us a new means to end the threat (not end ISIS) along the lines of Ron Paul's suggestions in this book "Plowshares."
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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If I didnt know better, I would say you are pretty disgusted with the state of things and just dont listen to them anymore. Kudos to you.
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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 8 months ago
    They lie because they can do it and get away with it. Like Hillary and Obama, and Bush for that matter. We, as citizens, just have to assume that anything a politician says is said to support a hidden agenda and just not accepted as fact. The agenda must be identified before accepting anything they say
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    While I appreciate the moral of the story, historians note that the story is a fable.

    Far better is the story of Abraham Lincoln, who while working as a youth as a store clerk realized that a customer had overpaid and he had incorrectly calculated the change due. After leaving work that day he walked the several miles to the customer's home to return the money - only a few cents in the day.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 8 months ago
    Progressives believe that truth is subjective and therefore there is no such thing as either truth or lies. The world is as we say it is.

    That they deny reality goes without saying.
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  • Posted by evlwhtguy 8 years, 8 months ago
    Because for some of them...there are no consequences. IE: our friends in the Democrat party get a pass from the majority of the press and no one else has the wherewithal to make enough noise for the majority to hear. Also the "progressives" have been putting like minded judges in place for the last 100 years.....so the courts obstruct any blowback.
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  • Posted by ProfChuck 8 years, 8 months ago
    The fundamental function of politics is the acquisition and maintenance of power. All other considerations are secondary. If the people benefit from the actions of a politician it is a useful but not necessary byproduct of the political process. Most politicians truly believe that the end justifies the means so any actions, regardless of how nefarious, that they take to acquire and maintain their power is justified and if the gullible public suffers that is just the cost of doing business. Ever wonder why there are so many scoundrels in politics? It's because of all the professions politics provides the easiest access and the greatest rewards to scoundrels.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 8 months ago
    "I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down that Cherry tree" George Washington. This was a message of Responsibility, of a mistake made and accepting the consequences of your actions. It was a message of humanity, of integrity. It provided a measure of trust and reality.
    Today many accept the fact that politicians lie.

    I don't.

    To the leftist statist, the end justifies the means
    The double standards, the manipulation ,indeed the fear of reality , the lack of conscious responsibility for words and actions all done with a nauseating arrogance .FOF
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 8 months ago
    Leaders lie because people that lie seek to be leaders.
    Some have been brain washed into thinking it is necessary to achieve certain goals but if one had a conscience, no matter the goal, could not lie in the first place.
    The rest of that lying population are just psychologically retarded. These entities are the great unwashed and we find ourselves awash in a sea of creatures like this and amazingly they followed the pide piper of liars, all the way to Washington DC.

    The End.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think the thermometer (my phrase is taking temp) will be when you start to whisper in the street. or people leaving social media and finding ways to meet clandestinely. It is already happening.
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  • Posted by Mamaemma 8 years, 8 months ago
    I have often thought that the US is headed toward chaos, ending in dictatorship. Our lives are so constricted and controlled even now that a dictatorship would not seem foreign to most of us.
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