4 ms·

It’s sad that we live in a world where politicians just blatantly lie about their campaign promises and we all accept it as normal and award them with high appr

It’s sad that we live in a world where politicians just blatantly lie about their campaign promises and we all accept it as normal and award them with high approval ratings.

tablespoon 4y ago
> It’s sad that we live in a world where politicians just blatantly lie about their campaign promises and we all accept it as normal and award them with high approval ratings. Though, part of that problem is that we also live in a world where the electorate also makes unrealistic demands on politicians, and will punish them if they don't get the promises they demand. I think that's especially true in primaries when it's mainly activists that can really push for promises that are not especially popular. Which isn't to let anyone off the hook, just to note it's one of those difficult problems that's composed of interlocking problems that reinforce each other.
- kurthr 4y ago
  I agree, but would go further and argue that the belief that "all politicians lie" is itself a problem with negative effects. Since we have a competitive system and a self described political entertainment complex, everyone running for office will be described as a liar. However, when an actual compulsive (pathological and self admitted?) liar is elected to congress, the belief that "everyone does it" serves as a justification for doing nothing. It misses the forest for the trees and provides an excuse for allowing the very problem it describes to grow and become worse.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Politicians campaign on what they will try to do. Whether they will achieve it is another matter. Obama tried to close Guantanamo Bay. Trump tried to build that wall. https://archive.ph/2017.04.12-174418/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/why-obama-has-failed-to-close-guantanamo https://archive.ph/2017.04.12-174418/http://www.newyorker.co...
- nhchris 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - lern_too_spel 4y ago
    > Neither tried very hard. The article I posted earlier shows some of the effort that went into the attempt to close Guantanamo Bay. Your definition of what constitutes trying hard sets an unreasonably high bar. > Naively one might think the former would be politically difficult, and the latter easy. The latter is much more difficult because it involves securing funding and purchasing land and then getting building permits that require impact reports and obtaining the services of a contractor. The US had already completed all the prerequisites to execute an airstrike in Iraq.
    - nhchris 4y ago
      > The latter is much more difficult because [..] All the reasons you give can be circumvented by simply breaking the law. Which is exactly what Soleimani's assassination involved. It was easy to break the law to assassinate a foreign high-ranking government official (and the press barely complained!), but hard to enforce standing immigration law (yet the press howled anyway).
      - lern_too_spel 4y ago
        Breaking the law does not solve all the issues I listed so easily. It does easily solve the issue of killing somebody who had taken military action in a country that the US military is already in.

It’s sad that we live in a world where politicians just blatantly lie about their campaign promises and we all accept it as normal and award them with high approval ratings.

tablespoon 4y ago

> It’s sad that we live in a world where politicians just blatantly lie about their campaign promises and we all accept it as normal and award them with high approval ratings. Though, part of that problem is that we also live in a world where the electorate also makes unrealistic demands on politicians, and will punish them if they don't get the promises they demand. I think that's especially true in primaries when it's mainly activists that can really push for promises that are not especially popular. Which isn't to let anyone off the hook, just to note it's one of those difficult problems that's composed of interlocking problems that reinforce each other.

kurthr 4y ago
I agree, but would go further and argue that the belief that "all politicians lie" is itself a problem with negative effects. Since we have a competitive system and a self described political entertainment complex, everyone running for office will be described as a liar. However, when an actual compulsive (pathological and self admitted?) liar is elected to congress, the belief that "everyone does it" serves as a justification for doing nothing. It misses the forest for the trees and provides an excuse for allowing the very problem it describes to grow and become worse.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

lern_too_spel 4y ago

Politicians campaign on what they will try to do. Whether they will achieve it is another matter. Obama tried to close Guantanamo Bay. Trump tried to build that wall. https://archive.ph/2017.04.12-174418/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/why-obama-has-failed-to-close-guantanamo https://archive.ph/2017.04.12-174418/http://www.newyorker.co...

nhchris 4y ago
[flagged]
- lern_too_spel 4y ago
  > Neither tried very hard. The article I posted earlier shows some of the effort that went into the attempt to close Guantanamo Bay. Your definition of what constitutes trying hard sets an unreasonably high bar. > Naively one might think the former would be politically difficult, and the latter easy. The latter is much more difficult because it involves securing funding and purchasing land and then getting building permits that require impact reports and obtaining the services of a contractor. The US had already completed all the prerequisites to execute an airstrike in Iraq.
  - nhchris 4y ago
    > The latter is much more difficult because [..] All the reasons you give can be circumvented by simply breaking the law. Which is exactly what Soleimani's assassination involved. It was easy to break the law to assassinate a foreign high-ranking government official (and the press barely complained!), but hard to enforce standing immigration law (yet the press howled anyway).
    - lern_too_spel 4y ago
      Breaking the law does not solve all the issues I listed so easily. It does easily solve the issue of killing somebody who had taken military action in a country that the US military is already in.