Would politicians tell us the truth if we could take it?

Profoundly wise comment.

Be it in our public or private lives we really do not want to hear the TRUTH if that TRUTH is negative/un-wanted or "outs" our ignorance or our faults or failings but most of all if it "outs" us as irresponsible and un-accountable parents,workers or VOTERS.

Perhaps because it is so subjective ,I should use the word FACTS instead of TRUTH.

While hate maybe too strong a word,we certainly do not like people who tell us or bring us BAD NEWS .WE really do not want to know and we certainly are not going to vote for any one who TELLS IT THE WAY IT IS and forces us to FACE OURSELVES.

So what we do,is vote for people who look good,sound good and most of all PANDERS to WE,THE PEOPLE .

The reason that I love democracy so much,is that WE,THE PEOPLE get EXACTLY what we deserve and can blame nobody else but ourselves although of course we try like hell to blame everyone else for OUR mistakes just like a spoilt 5 year old brat.

Always remember a politician is a politician due to his ability to spin the truth into wording which can be construed in such a way as to make him look right or others look wrong. Take the same information, reword it, and it fits the message of his opponent. Average people can extract the truth from a combination of messages if they are willing to work for it. Maybe not all the details, but the general truth can be found. Use their speeches and research the answers. I love the way politicians always have a plan but cannot ever seem to lay that plan out with reasoning and details. But if they can make you trust them, you will believe that they have a plan. When elected, the plan suddenly gets disrupted by the other side.

This might be the best question I ever read on this board.

You might be onto something.

I do believe the majority or at least too many folks can't handle the truth and would prefer the illusion that's familiar,the lie that's comfortable.So the answers might be yes.

However sugarcoating the truth and lying are two different things.

It is my impression politicians who lie the most do absolutely nothing to try and educate and elevate the general knowledge level of their constituency but on the contrary feed them cheap slogans and rhetoric.They are perfectly happy their voters don't know and don't want to know the truth so it's hard to say what's cause and what's consequence.

I also believe most people aren't really individuals or not as much as they consider themselves to be Most people don't think for themselves.Most people don't have an own opinion.Most people think they have both but they are wrong.They believe what others told them.

In that light it makes sense that people don't question as much as they should or connect the dots.People tend to be conformists cos in History and evolution that was an advantage.It's in our genes.There are plenty of psychological tests that suggest people have the hardest time to think for themselves and trust their own judgment against a majority or a perceived majority of those who think different.If you have a group for example of ten people,nine researchers and one real test subject.You show them a green card but all the researchers who are in the experiment say the card is red it will become very hard and for most people even impossible to say the card is green while they saw it with their own eyes.Human genetics favor conformity cos that was necessary and beneficial in evolution

I'm sure I could handle the truth if they told it, but they seem to think the truth is an obstacle to getting elected. What they seem to be too dumb to realize is that if they don't tell the truth, it's human nature to suspect that they have the worst possible motivation, which is what leads to conspiracy theories. I'd rather hear the truth, no matter how ugly it is, than hear a lie that makes me wonder what horrific things they're hiding. I may not always know the whole truth, but I can tell when someone is lying.

This may be slightly off-topic, but it's uncanny how well what I said above applies to some of my ex-girlfriends as well as to politicians. Honesty is the best policy no matter who you are.

Politicians want to be elected so they can improve their lives with status and power. If they told the truth, they wouldn't get elected, would they? When people start voting for other people and not politicians then there might be and end in sight to all the sadness and destruction that truly is all over this sick world.

For example:

Was the government or military involved at all in the Kennedy assassination?

Was the government or military involved in any of the events of 9/11/01?

Is the government or military hiding evidence of intelligent life from places other than the earth?

I would think that most Americans could not handle the truth if the answers to any of these questions is yes.

I had two parents in government (Treasury/C.I.A.)(United Nations/Saudi Embassy in Washington).

They would tell me things, and I would here the public say such silly things about what I knew. It was frustrating to see how utterly confused and unaware of the basics of government the public was.

Yes, they would, and they try, frequently. They particularly make the effort when some outsider tries to paint them as "criminals" or worse, but the public still believes that anything they see in the news must be representative of reality rather than the exception.

They never question why ex-felons don't appear on nightly news, only police officers, priests, and politicians.

It's kind of a sad commentary on their intelligence and education. News is about the strange, the unusual. That's why you don't usually hear good news.

Yes, they would. We aren't mature enough as a country to handle it, yet. Goodness! Look at the playground tactics we still use with our elected representatives!

No one has a right to determine whether the truth should be told or not. It is not their choice to make that decision for us. They are to represent us and do so in a forth right manner and with as much tack as possible. But the truth is for us the ones that GOVERN those that act on our behalf. Remember always we are the governing body of this government and we give them the power.....not the other way around. They represent us.....and should do so at all times in a forthright and honest manner.

The president and his cabinet, and every member of the "executive branch, which includes the VP who lives in an undisclosed location, will never tell the truth. It is not in their nature. They have been liars from the beginning and they will be liars in the end. They have driven the middle east into the ground, and eroded the moral fabric of America. They are False Leaders and False Christians.

They have turned back the tide of progress in America by a generation, and have gladly sent millions of jobs to China, Pakistan, Vietnam, and various "third world" countries. They have been to the American worker what Iraq has been to the American military. All in this cabinet should resign, most have but the rest need to throw in the Crimson towel, followed by their corrupt and vile False Leader.

Of course, the thing is, the general public can't take it.

Let's see.... let's hop onto some of those conspiracy theories and see how people could react...

1:

Bush went into Iraq for oil.

So Bush comes up to the podium and says: My fellow Americans. Due to recent scientific evidence, it has been shown that oil production will peak and fall off. Now, this could be true and it could not be, but in any case, this could lead those countries controlling the most oil to be the ones in charge of the world. In order to protect our sovereignty, we must invade the country of Iraq, mostly sedated from the Gulf War, in order to further this protection of this valuable resource.

First off, there'd be a massive hub-bub over fighting over resources. People think that wars need to be fought over ideals now, protecting good and fighting evil sort of thing, not fighting over resources.

2:

Aliens are among us!!!!!!

Think of the fear and xenophobia that could grow from the populace knowing of a race that could strike at us, but we had no ability to strike back. BIG cornered animal thing.

There's a lot more. People in large groups are panicky and fast acting/little thinking. They can't even work together in order to rebuild their city (New Orleans), as there are enough of those who prefer looting to keep everything down.