While it is tempting to think of politics as the art of lying, I content it works best when done in good faith. This is based on my conventional political philosophy. As would be expected, I accept that the legitimacy of the state rests on the consent of the governed. As thinkers like Locke and Hobbes have advanced better arguments than I can provide, so I simply steal from them. When it comes to consent, I agree with Socrates’ remarks in the Crito. For a person to consent to the rule of the state, they can neither be deceived nor coerced. People must also have the opportunity to provide this consent; in a democracy (or republic) one means of providing consent is by voting and this is why easy and secure voting is essential to the political legitimacy of a democratic state.
Lying in politics undermines legitimacy. If people make decisions based on lies, then they are not providing consent. After all, their decision might change if they knew the truth. For example, consider the election lies advanced by Trump and his followers. While many people are going along with what they know is a lie (and thus consenting), there are some people who support voter restrictions only because they believe the lies. If they knew the truth, they would not consent.
The obvious counter is to argue that all that matters in politics is winning. While this does have some appeal, it rejects the notion that legitimacy depends on the consent of the governed. Which is something too many politicians have accepted.
Like Locke and many other thinkers, I also accept majority rule. Once again, I defer to the arguments offered by Locke and other thinkers. Because of concerns about tyranny and oppression, I also accept the notion of rights against the state aimed at protecting people from the dangers of majority rule. Naturally, I also largely agree with J.S. Mill on the danger of the tyranny of the majority: each of us needs protection from all of us to enjoy our liberties and rights.
Majority rule requires good faith, since voting is a matter of consent and requires an absence of fraud and force. If rights and liberties are to be protected against tyranny, then honesty is required. If, for example, a politician lies about the negative effect of their bill on free expression, then their law could be accepted due to this fraud. This would make the law doubly bad; it would be accepted based on fraud and would harm to the rights of citizens. This, as one would suspect, is why those who want to restrict liberty and rights lie about their intentions and the consequences of these restrictions. For example, Republicans in Florida have passed an anti-protest law by pitching it as an anti-riot law. This law seems to infringe on the First Amendment, but I am not a lawyer. Morally, however, it is wrong because it is aimed at suppressing free expression through the threat of coercion.
I also agree with Locke’s that the purpose of the state is the good of the people. While there is debate about what the good is, this notion does require good faith in politics. While not all interests are morally legitimate, everyone has legitimate interests that need to be considered when determining the good of the people. While this entails that we are obliged to listen when people state their interests, it also entails they should be honest when doing so. One reason is that if someone lies about their political interests, then consent cannot be given as their fraud precludes it. Another reason is that a false interest is not a real interest. So when a person lies about their interest, they sabotage the process of achieving the good of the people. After all, the rest of us cannot consider a person’s interests when they are lying about them.
As would be expected, people often lie about their interests when they think others would see them as wrong or at least unreasonable. While it can be difficult to sort out a person’s true political interest, the usual test is to examine their actions. For example, various states rushed to pass anti-trans bills that politicians claim are based on their interest in fairness in sports. While fairness is a laudable interest, there is the question of whether these Republicans acted from this interest. The easy way to check is to investigate the laws. What can often be more telling is to look at what they have not done. For example, Republicans in Florida claimed to support their anti-trans bill based on an interest in fairness, yet if they really cared about fairness for women then they would have, for example, ratified the ERA. As such, their profession of an interest in fairness would seem a lie. Rather, their interest seems to be signaling that they also hate and fear trans people. Obviously, if they presented their real interest in good faith, that would make them look terrible. Which is why they do not operate in good faith.
Being honest about the facts is also important in the context of interests. After all, if the alleged facts are lies, then consent is not possible. Also, if lies are advanced to support a political interest, then that interest will not be supported. One example of this is the big lie advanced by Trump and his fellows about the election. While Trump and his fellows do have a legitimate interest in the election, the claims of widespread voter fraud are untrue. As such, Trump tried to serve his interest with lies. To tie it all together, I will now turn to a non-political analogy.
Imagine that Doug, who loves meat, is on a softball team with the vegan Karen. After a big game out of town, the team is going out to dinner. Karen loathes Doug and wants to “own” him by making his dinner as awful as possible. Karen knows that if she is honest about this, some people on the team will not vote with her. So, she is careful to conceal that and just says she wants what is best and fair for everyone.
Karen knows that the Angry Carrot restaurant is completely vegan, crazy expensive, and serves microscopic portions. It also does not serve any alcohol. Karen knows that her teammates want large portions at a good price, that many of them like meat, and that most of them want alcohol. So, Karen lies about all this. She says the prices are great, the portions huge, there are many choices on the menu and that the beer will flow like water. She neglects to mention that Doug’s ex-girlfriend will be there as well, singing in the band Meat is Genocide for the entertainment of the vegans.
To ensure she wins, Karen also makes sure that the vote is conducted while those who would vote against her are absent. The team members present vote based on Karen’s lies and she wins. The team arrives at the Angry Carrot and many of them are dismayed by what they find: vegan only fare, microscopic portions, high prices and no beer. Doug is also shocked when his ex-girlfriend jumps up on the table and screams “meat is murder!” at him and then breaks out into a song about how meat eaters all go to hell.
While some of the team grumbles, Karen’s buddy Tucker reinforces her lies. He gushes about the diverse options on the menu, says that the portions are huge and amazingly cheap, and tells everyone that the water is beer. Some teammates, who also dislike Doug, go along with the lies since “owning” Doug makes it all worthwhile. A few teammates believe Karen and Tucker and somehow getting drunk on the water. Doug and most other teammates have a terrible time and when they complain, Karen and Tucker point out that they voted to go here. When Doug points out that some people were kept from voting and that Karen lied about everything, Karen replies that “elections have consequences”, and that Doug should go along with her otherwise he is dividing the team with his hate. She adds a bit about Doug being woke and then accuses him of trying to cancel her. Disgusted, Doug leaves in search of beer and BBQ. While this has been great for Karen, it has been awful for Doug and bad for most of the team. Bad faith in politics works the same way.