“All Politicians Are Liars.” Does This Statement Capture a Truth About Politics Or Reflect a Simplistic And Naive Understanding Of How Politics Works?

“All Politicians Are Liars.” Does This Statement Capture a Truth About Politics Or Reflect a Simplistic And Naive Understanding Of How Politics Works?

In this essay I argue that to call all politicians liars is a foolish and fundamentally wrong statement, which not only reflects a naïve understanding within our society of how politics works, but more importantly a general lack of understanding from those who decide to make such comments. Whilst some politicians have most certainly lied in the past, are most likely doing so in the present and will undoubtedly continue to lie in the future, you cannot brand each and every politician a liar. In fact, various facts and figures over the tenures of the past few governments reveal to us an alarmingly high amount of truth from politicians, as well as academic research which confirm that politicians do not deserve to warrant such a poor label.
In order to counter-act the notion that all politicians are liars, we need to look at why many believe in this. The relationship between politicians, the electorate they represent and the media has led to an inherent distrust of politicians, with the electorate often being misled by the media into assuming the evils of politics and politicians themselves. In my eyes, the main culprit is that of the ever changing media. The mass media provides the backbone within mass democracy, as they supply the political information that voters utilise to inform their judgements. Democracy expects a certain deal from the media, such as meaningful agenda setting, dialogue across a diverse range of views and incentives for citizens to learn. (Gurevitch M, Blumler JG, 1990) However, much of it today focuses on the negatives of a political party or person, looking for the next scandal or breach of promises, with minor dangers being completely blown out of proportion, whilst much larger dangers go relatively unnoticed. (Glassner, 1999) Political news in particular now seems to be more about the personality, as proved with the televised election debates and the ensuing popularity of Nick Clegg, than the ideological background the person upholds. With...