Lies And Democracy [View All]

[Barack_America]

This is a brilliant analysis on Obsidian Wings. It discusses why deceitful behavior by politicians is so disrespectful and damaging to democracy.

Also, for those interested in the lies that have been told during this election, the author gives an incredible analysis on this as well (at the end), with every reference you could hope for.

IMO, this is a must-bookmark as well as being a must-read.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/01/lies-and-democr.html

Excerpt:

Lies And Democracy
by hilzoy

...When politicians lie, however, they raise the amount of time it takes to do one's job as a citizen adequately, and they raise it dramatically. It's as though they walked up to people and said: if I weren't around, you might be able to fulfill your civic obligations by reading the papers, but thanks to my lies, in order to exercise your right to vote responsibly, you will have to spend hours Googling and going over long-forgotten articles in order to find out the most basic facts. If you don't, I'll be able to deceive you. Ha ha ha!

People who do that have no respect for voters, no respect for their right to make up their own minds, and no respect for our democratic system. The only way they will stop is if we stop tolerating it. In a democracy, we get the leaders we deserve...

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did!