Deception, Self-Deception, and the moral decline of our elected officials

Deception, Self-Deception, and the moral decline of our elected officials

My father used to say that the connection between the average citizen and their elected officials is an essential part of life. There is also a fine line between honor and moral decline that can’t be seen until you look very closely. Many Elected officials have huge egos and self-importance that defy the average voter and make them feel as though they're beyond being arrested or thrown out of office due to their behavior. 

However, in politics, when this perspective doesn't fade, it creates significant harm to our society and progress. The intricate web of social factors amplifies the damage done by dishonesty on a grand scale.

My father also taught me that every politician is a liar in one form or another. Once that aspect of their character is exposed, the liar within their character tells their constituents that they’ve lost sight of the possibility of ever trusting them again. Unfortunately, many voters only vote based on name recognition rather than end results of the candidate while in office. 

While studying politics at my father’s knee he showed me how a political representative's dishonor and corrupt behavior can erode the public life of any and all elected officials and can destroy our shared potential as a society.

I can remember in 1971 when the Pentagon Papers were released how the betrayal of our political representatives in Washington, DC misled us as a nation and made my father see red and begin using curse words I had never heard before. I had heard similar words used back when Kennedy was killed. The words my father used at that time were foreign to me as a toddler, but I never forgot them to this day. His exact words were “Johnson’s coup and the bastards in the Puzzle Palace were executed, and they killed a good man.” That breach of trust filled me with a scary feeling at the time and has never left me, because I know if given the chance the corrupt bastards in Washington DC would do it again if they knew they could get away with it a second time.

Political honesty has often been overlooked; deception is frequently viewed as a strategic necessity. It's remarkable how little philosophical inquiry has focused on these matters that shape our actions and highlight our inclination to ignore the truth. They fill their pockets with what is called "Pork" in bills that have no reason to be signed into law and waste our taxdollars. The corruption of our elected officials is abundant just look at how they entered politics with an income of say, $40,000 and leave a few years later with millions in their bank accounts. That's a sign of serious corruption and insider trading for sure. Same goes for their spouses earning high margins of income based on knowledge their elected spouse provides for them to use to make huge deals. 

Truthfulness has seldom been viewed as a political asset, with lies often seen as acceptable in politics.  It's intriguing how little our philosophical and political discourse addresses the implications of this for action and our ability to deny reality—an active skill distinct from merely succumbing to error or distortion.

As a champion of the intricate nature of human experience, we’ve allowed ourselves to accept inclinations that defy simple moral classification. Echoing Cicero's thoughts from two millennia ago on envy and compassion, political behavior now suggests that both our ethical shortcomings and creative impulses arise from a shared foundation of unethical and moral decline in social behavior.

Politics always initiates something new in every election cycle. However, it doesn’t emerge from nothing. Politicians make space for their actions; they must alter or eliminate what exists. This requires imagination — the ability to envision change and deny reality when necessary – hence politics is not reality it’s fantasy.  Without mental freedom to decipher between fantasy and reality, a politician’s action becomes impossible to deny; and without action, their politics ceases to exist. Hence, they need the media to help bolster their egos and existence of false information. 

When discussing lies in politics, we must recognize that they didn't just slip in due to human flaws.  Moral outrage alone won't make them vanish. History, as a shared memory shaped by collective agreement, is bound to be flawed. Our individual memories are often unreliable, so it’s no wonder that our collective recollections are equally imperfect. There once was a time in Washington, DC where if an elected official was accused of adultery, criminal actions, or disrespect they were sanctioned or expelled from Congress or the Senate. Unfortunately, those types of accusations are no longer seen as dishonorable or issues to be expelled, instead, they are considered worthy of praise. Where has our social conscience gone?

Falsehoods flourish in a world of uncertain facts—those devoid of intrinsic truth. Factual truths are never absolute; they can be challenged by a single lie or widespread deception.  The reliability of memories hinges on trustworthy testimony, making every claim subject to doubt.  Thus, no assertion is entirely beyond question.

People are kept in the dark, lacking access to crucial information needed for informed decisions. The media is to blame for this lack of crucial information, but it fails us every time by providing us with no real information only falsehoods. Even those with top security clearance often remain oblivious, not due to a hidden agenda by corrupt and immoral individuals in the government, but because of overwhelming circumstances that discourage them from sifting through mountains of mostly irrelevant documents about the misleading activities of their fellow elected officials who commit adultery, crimes again our citizens and corrupt dealings to keep their position in Congress or Senate. 

 Elizabeth Kilbride is a Writer and Editor with forty years of experience in writing with 12 of those years in the online content sphere. Author of 5 books and a Graduate with an Associate of Arts from Phoenix University in Business Management, then a degree. Mass Communication and Cyber Analysis from Phoenix University, then on to Walden University for her master’s in criminology with emphasis on Cybercrime and Identity Theft and is currently studying for her Ph.D. degree in Criminology. Her work portfolio includes coverage of politics, current affairs, elections, history, and true crime. Elizabeth is also a gourmet cook, life coach, and avid artist in her spare time, proficient in watercolor, acrylic, oil, pen and ink, Gouche, and pastels. As a political operative having worked on over 300 campaigns during her career, Elizabeth has turned many life events into books and movie scripts while using history to weave interesting storylines. She also runs 7 blogs that range from art to life coaching, to food, to writing, Gardening, and opinion or history pieces each week. 

Elizabeth Kilbride, Politics, History, Opinion