Opinion Make it illegal for politicians to lie?

[7437]

An amusing proposition from a political party from Wales. Essentially they would apply deceptive advertising rules to elected officials.

https://nation.cymru/news/make-it-i...eqkLXB6wmZuTvoAONSNRm8aWAoaqO5sq_CCpdzkztEhb0

I for one would support this.

 

[Orgasmo]

How about we make them wear tracksuits with advertisements on them, to see who their corporate sponsors are? Like NASCAR drivers.

 

[Billy no mates]

In a post truth world what would be the point ? .

 

[Cajun]

If we did that.... there would be no one in office...

 

[Stoic1]

Would Snopes be the arbitrator of truth?

Or perhaps we need a Ministry of Truth...

 

[Fatality]

Might as well make it illegal to breathe as well, it would be just as likely.

 

[JLan98]

An amusing proposition from a political party from Wales. Essentially they would apply deceptive advertising rules to elected officials.

https://nation.cymru/news/make-it-i...eqkLXB6wmZuTvoAONSNRm8aWAoaqO5sq_CCpdzkztEhb0

I for one would support this.

Make it illegal for politicians to lie? And have every Republican end up in jail? Hmmm, sounds interesting lol

Trump wouldn't let this happen. Imagine what his rallies would look like if he was forced to tell the truth?

"Hello fellow racists! You'll be happy to know I'm working hard to protect the interests of the rich, and at your expense! I'm continuing to undermine the democracy you idiots claim to value so much, and giving my cronies great deals and cushy positions! And don't worry - the rest of the world still thinks we're a joke!"

Actually, I think most of his base would still be dumb enough to vote for him again even if he said this lol

 

[LetThemBleed]

Make it illegal for politicians to lie? And have every Republican end up in jail? Hmmm, sounds interesting lol

Trump wouldn't let this happen. Imagine what his rallies would look like if he was forced to tell the truth?

"Hello fellow racists! You'll be happy to know I'm working hard to protect the interests of the rich, and at your expense! I'm continuing to undermine the democracy you idiots claim to value so much, and giving my cronies great deals and cushy positions! And don't worry - the rest of the world still thinks we're a joke!"

Actually, I think most of his base would still be dumb enough to vote for him again even if he said this lol

Because all Democrats are 100 percent truthful 100 percent of the time? Every Dem presidential candidate would be in the slammer.

 

[JLan98]

Because all Democrats are 100 percent truthful 100 percent of the time?

Certainly not, but of course there are levels to everything and Republicans barely have time to breathe between lies.

Look at 45 - I don't think he could be truthful if he tried! But it works for him because conservatives aren't generally that concerned with truth. He could take credit for the sun coming up every morning, and Republicans would buy it. In fact I'm not sure why he hasn't done that yet lol

 

[Merlotte's]

Be like banning strippers from taking off their clothes and expecting people to still watch pole dancing.

 

[Fawlty]

Would Snopes be the arbitrator of truth?

Or perhaps we need a Ministry of Truth...

I don't share the unfair disdain for Snopes, who do a fuckton of good in this world, but basically this. It's dystopian for people to be under oath all the time. It's also easy to get facts wrong and it's sometimes hard to tell a lie from an error. I would be okay with harsher treatment of lying politicians, for it to be the norm that a really big lie forces a resignation or period of apology and social "probation" enforced by the voting public. We should value the truth more than we do.

 

[Witchhunt]

So, ban politics.....

I’m in!

 

[squeezewax]

They need to lie sometimes though don't they?
I actually think all of them should have their salaries cut by around 50%, permanently. No one should decide to be a politician because it's a well paying job with perks. We'd then hopefully see many more people get into politics because they genuinely want to serve society.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

In a post truth world what would be the point ? .

If you're not caught with a knife in hand and a dead body at the bad end of it, everything's cool

 

[Fluffernutter]

How about this:

When someone is testifying to,congress under oath, the members of Congress that are participating in the hearing are under oath as well.

 

[ShadowRun]

The truth is not PC though.

 

[Trotsky]

It's dystopian for people to be under oath all the time.

For people? Yes. For public officials who chose public office? Not so sure.

And, of course, you're right about mistakes of fact and so on, but there can be relatively bright lines drawn for that. In the case of chronic mistakes of fact - saying manufacturing is at all-time highs, many DACA enrollees are hardened criminals, and laughably insisting that the visa lottery involves countries submitting their own citizens names into a raffle drum - it can go to making a case for clear and flagrant incompetence.

 

[genecop]

LOL, our entire system is based on lies...

 

[second sight]

lets also see their tax returns each year with a full financial disclosure on their investments

 

[Fawlty]

For people? Yes. For public officials who chose public office? Not so sure.

And, of course, you're right about mistakes of fact and so on, but there can be relatively bright lines drawn for that. In the case of chronic mistakes of fact - saying manufacturing is at all-time highs, many DACA enrollees are hardened criminals, and laughably insisting that the visa lottery involves countries submitting their own citizens names into a raffle drum - it can go to making a case for clear and flagrant incompetence.

Well my reply to the second part is already in my post: "harsher treatment of lying politicians, for it to be the norm that a really big lie forces a resignation or period of apology and social "probation" enforced by the voting public. We should value the truth more than we do." That especially covers the big lies like fraudulent statistics. Still leaves room for the more subtle, misleading lies, but deception is something that is never going away.

It's on us because politics is choices about values, and our values are reflected pretty accurately in most areas, with wealth distribution being the biggest exception, and maintaining that biggest of lies requires gargantuan effort. We like lying scumbags who pander to our base emotional needs, and most people I see protesting that are at best a pack of much-protesting Lady Macbeths. I also don't think politicians are, at a baseline irrespective of today's Republicans (who go much further than merely pandering to our base emotional needs), quite as dishonest as we think they are. I'm a notch to the skeptical side of the JVS view (that they are significantly more honest than us), because branding is fundamentally dishonest and politicians are euphemizing and branding constantly, and can't help but be somewhat dishonest all the time because of that.

I think it's still fundamentally impossible to be sufficiently honest as one must be on a personal level, as a political representative, and be effective. Even figuring out when to act as a trustee and when to act as a delegate can put you into impossible corners where identifying the morally right thing is difficult and somebody is getting fucked no matter what you decide. I don't think people are good at thinking about those sorts of dynamics, because most people aren't very intelligent. The best they can do is default to cynicism so they won't feel fooled.