Honest Liars

Honest government never exists:

Despite scandals stretching generations, Americans are still encouraged to believe that the next election will result in honest government. Are citizens supposed to believe that elections automatically redeem democracy, like a buzzard that magically transforms into a unicorn every four years? Are we supposed to presume there is an automatic moral rebirth of representative government three days after vote-counting ends, like a resurrection after crucifixion? Are we supposed to believe that next time that presidents and members of Congress will finally honor their oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution? But, as former US senator Bob Kerrey explained in 2013, “The problem is, the second your hand comes off the Bible, you become an asshole.” The absurdity of expecting a presidential election to produce honest government is obvious from public revulsion during recent campaigns. Shortly before the 2016 election, a Gallup poll found that only 33% of voters believed Hillary Clinton was honest and trustworthy, and only 35% trusted Donald Trump. The Clinton-Trump tag team made “post-truth” the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2016 word of the year. Since 1952, every rebirth of political decency proved a mirage. But good Americans are exhorted to believe that this election will be different. Political purity is almost always an illusion—a stage trick courtesy of the media or shameless PR wizards. Most Americans pay more attention to political personalities than to the vast coercive machinery of government. But it is far easier to detect whether a law or policy permits arbitrary power and constitutional travesties than to perceive the full venality of rascals hustling for votes. Americans cannot expect to have good presidents if presidents are permitted to make themselves czars. Instead of asking, “Whom should we trust with all this power?’ Americans should ask, “How much power can any politician be personally trusted with?”

As little as possible...