Why Do People In Our Government Constantly Lie To Us?

I was having a discussion with my mom the other night about the up comming presidential elections, and i was saying that the people who run for office will say anything to get us to vote for them. I am fifteen and I don't really want to see what is in store for this country, I have no hope. We are constantly lied to about the laws that they make, the wars that our friends and family are dieing in, the reasons that gas prices go up even when the price of oil goes down, and why the people that we actually do vote for don't get into office. I just don't want to think about what the future of this country is going to be like.

Yeah, you are growing up in a tough time. My kids are from a little older to you to a lot older. Same story here with them.

Politicians have always lied, it is just a popularity game. If you were told the truth about what they would really do in office, no one would vote for them. Always remember that.

Gas prices, have risen and fallen for decades. I can remember the cheapest I paid at .28 a gallon. This was 1972. I saw prices soar with Carter, drop with Reagen, up and down with Bush senior. stabilize and rise with Clinton, go nuts with GW. The best advice I got about gas and prices was told to me years ago. Buy stock in oil companies.

As for war, Vietnam was much worse and more social unrest.

Every generation has problems. You just seen a little overwhelmed with all the information you have available. Just let life happen, you'll do just fine.

i understand what you are saying and i know that this kind of stuff has happened through out history but it needs to stop

I think it has something to do with there mouths moving.

Funny that they need us, the population to get elected, but after that its all about serving corporate and political interests.

reply to post by LDragonFire


it's completely true after they are in office they throw every thing they told us out the window

Yeah its nothing inherent about the US gov't. This topic could easily be expanded to "Why do governments of the world constantly lie to its citizens?"

There are a myriad of answrs such as control, protecting citizens for their own good, political power struggle between leaders, and just human nature in general.

I mean people in general lie to other people every day. Governments are made up of people. ther ya go.

reply to post by princeofpeace


but they lie on such a huge scale, it's sad

Governments typically govern on a huge scale therefore the scope of their lies are proportionally large.

i just think that we should go to at least a partial direct democracy instead of electing people that lie about everything they say.

It really wont matter if the gov't format is democracy, partial democracy, socialist, oligarchy, dictatorship, communist etc. Until humans fundamentally change their propensity to lie and steal and greed for wealth and power, then no form of gov't will be perfect and free from lying and deception.

All you can hope for is for the best mix thereof.

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Governments typically govern on a huge scale therefore the scope of their lies are proportionally large.

That doesn't excuse it. That puts a larger responsibility on their shoulders to hold their oath to office and represent our nation by being LEADERS. Being the leaders of our nation means they must step up and be the upstanding citizens of our country. Being that it is the United States, with all of our history, and what we should stand for, being that upstanding citizen means a little more effort is in order than in the average country of the world.

To put it simply - they miserably fail to live up to that expectation and responsibility.

In reality, this country is nothing like the fairy tale we're taught in school. It is much larger than that, and much deeper than that. That is the trend that has been set, and that is the trend we shall remain on until the people get their heads out of their asses and do something about it.

You have to have a system where the people keep the government in line. The government aren't our rulers. We don't elect them so that they can tell us what to do. That's like picking out your slave owner from a line of slave owners.

We elect them to represent us in the international community. We elect them to do our diplomatic work, and to keep us safe, and enforce the law that NO ONE should be above. We elect them, in this country, to uphold our constitutional rights by upholding their constitutional oaths.

It's like if you have a little kid that you get upset with for doing something wrong. You yell at them, but you never punish them for it. So the kid does it again, and you have the same reaction. What do you think that little kid is going to keep doing if all he gets is some yelling?

They are that little kid. They do something wrong, something in their interest, and all we do is complain and hold up some signs on a street corner, then go back to our every day lives. They do it again, we have the same reaction. Do you think they are in the least bit intimidated by our petty actions?

They clearly know us well, because they know they're free to do as they please, and we'll complain about it for a week, then when that weekend comes, it's all water under the bridge because we have to go out drinking and partying, and politics, the future of our nation, and the future of our family, our friends, and ourselves really - somehow - doesn't match the importance of such mindless activities.

So they'll keep doing what they're doing until every last inch of bargaining power and revolution power we have is gone, along with all of our freedoms. They'll keep sending us to war, wrecking the economy, hiking up gas prices, and stealing our freedoms, because who is going to have the time to save their nation they claim to love when that new season of American Idol comes on?

It wasnt intended to be an excuse but rather a matter of fact, which is not limited to the American gov't by any means whatsoever.

They lie because if they told the truth it would be Anarchy. People would do more than revolt, because the truth would be too much to handle. Either that, or they wouldn't believe the truth, because we have been lied to for so long.

What I don't like is that you can't go back. Once you learn a bit of the 'truth' you want to learn more. But at the same time, you wish that you could forget, and regret that you ever went down that rabbit hole...
DocMoreau

reply to post by princeofpeace


Just to be clear, that rant wasn't directed at you by any means. I was just speaking in general that it's no excuse.

I apologize if it came across that way

reply to post by princeofpeace


i think that you read my post wrong a partial DIRECT democracy. meaning that the people vote on pretty much everything thing instead of having representatives.

I can completely relate to the OP. I started to see just how much of a crock that our election system is when I was in high school. 13 years later I find myself with a sense of total indifference toward voting because I feel that my vote is not going to do a bit of good. I know that many people would say otherwise, but when the votes of the people are tallied, they don't really matter because the electoral college is who decides who wins and who loses. (And that assumes that you buy into the supposed legitimacy of our democratic voting system.) Local governments are not the same, but in the big picture it's pretty clear that the president is (at least currently and in the recent past) the one steering the majority of what happens to Americans.

Someone said something about how no one would vote for a candidate who tells the truth about what they will do if they win. I don't think that's completely true. I think if you were to have someone who was an independent and not bound to a party platform, that they would actually be able to be more sincere in their campaign.

That's one thing that concerns me about Ron Paul. As much as I hope (A LOT) that this guy wins, he is running as a member of a major political party, and with that comes ties to their platform. I wonder how much of an influence that the party agenda will exert on what he is claiming he'd do right now. Part of me feels like everything he is saying now will be on his "to do" list. But at the same time I have this little bit of doubt.

Of course, there's also the matter of all of the other checks and balances that say, a president, has to go through once elected. Let's assume that Ron Paul were to win, and that his first order of business is to abolish the federal reserve. I have a hard time believing that there isn't going to be a great deal of resistance from congress, the house of reps, and who knows what other entities. Maybe the president has the power to take such an action without going through those other entities. But it doesn't seem like it could be so simple, nor should it be, otherwise any president could wreck havoc on this country by putting his whims into action.

They lie because if they told the truth there would be revolution.

And they lie because the Media will not allow the truth to be told.

reply to post by Malichai


i have been saying this on alot of other threads we need a revolution and we need to get the rulers out

Politicians lie to us for the same reason you don't tell a girl she looks fat in her outfit when she asks you. Politics has always been corrupt, maybe more so now, but more light is shed on the corruption which makes things seem infinitely worse.

The problem is The internet provides concrete records of everything.

No more can history be written be the successor.

It will be writen as it is through billions of people.

The goverment can not cover there lies so well when they are all listed behind them.

That is why its so blatent now.