Lying has been something of a norm for people. People lie on a consistent basis in order to “get by,” e.g. tax documents, resumes, police encounters, dates, etc. They lie to make people feel better. They lie to make people feel worse. Politicians lie regularly to keep appearances, and it isn’t much different for people in the professional world. Lying is a staple for dealing with other people. Why is it then that people are surprised when people who are placed in positions of power are corrupt? Lying is a response to danger. It assumes that we have something to lose if we were to tell the truth. Based on this, we can assume that people find other people to be of danger to them.
The professional world has its share of liars, and it is seen as normal to lie. One may hear stories where an applicant isn’t qualified for a position and wouldn’t know what to do in it, but they, nonetheless, lie that they are qualified for the position and know its functions, only to read up and train for the position before working there. This is seen as a “go-getter” attitude. The person was at a loss for the position, but, through cunning deception and self-education follow through, they become set for the work and get the position. Outright lies can work on resumes, and Ponzi schemes like Bernie Madoff’s can last for years. Donald Trump also engaged in unscrupulous business behavior, sometimes not paying people like he promised.
Politics is famously rife with lying. People often opine over the lack of follow through on politician’s campaign promises. The rhetoric of the campaign trail is laden with words to appease the base and placate moderates who may vote for the candidate in question, but it is often quickly set aside for the deals of establishment and interconnections in the political machinery of the government. It seems politicians will say anything to get pet programs through, like Obama saying you could keep your insurance if you like it with the passing of the Affordable Care Act. Lies in politics create a broad complacency among the populace, as the people in power engage in surreptitious deals with each other.
One can see that there is a unity between the lying of the professional and political worlds. It is especially clear that lies are used in order to gain a desired position in the first place (an interview in the professional world and the campaign trail in politics). Parallels can be seen in the dating world, as people will often lie in the beginning of a relationship, as the more contentious aspects of each person are saved for when there is already a closer relationship between the two. The ubiquitousness of lying points to lying as a systemic issue of our societies and not a chance offense or something isolated to politics.
Given the systemic and widespread quality of lying in our societies, it should not be surprising when we find corruption in people of power. There’s a frequent desire to make out politicians as the primary liars of our society, but this is probably an over abstraction to create a commonality between non-politicians, as though they don’t lie, themselves. If lying is common in a society, politicians would simply see it as par for the course that they, too, would lie. Indeed, it is the people in general that elect the politicians in the first place. Why would they not see the politicians as the liars they are and not simply posit a non-liar to be elected? It is likely that they simply don’t see the politician as a liar, since the politician lies as they themselves do (and their attempt to cover up their own lies fall in line with the politician’s) or they are besmitten by the politician’s lies (which could show certain psychological inadequacies of the person), or they think the lies that the politician makes are acceptable lies, either because they are “white lies” or because they think “you need to get dirty to win.” In any case, the normalization of lying in society isn’t just the politician’s fault but everyone else’s, too.
Lastly, it is important to note that lying is a response to danger. We lie because we think if we don’t there will be an imminent threat to our values. This presumes that we think that other people are of danger to us, so a society of liars is also a society of people who don’t trust each other not to harm one another. This places a hitch on our understanding of our society as one of cooperation. Instead, our society is one in which we deceive each other in a setting of hostility. Although it is fair to presume a person can be hostile to you. As a norm of dealing with people we are supposed to be continually working with, lying creates an environment of hostility where there ultimately shouldn’t be one. The truth is ultimately stronger than a lie.
Lying is currently a systemic issue that can’t be blamed on one group of people. The normalization of lying predicates further lying and corruption. Both professionals and politicians are prone to lying, and it is seen as acceptable in many cases. This lying creates an environment of hostility in societies, instead of cooperation.