Why can't politicians tell the truth?

Usually blogs of this sort would bemoan the terrible ethics of politicians and criticise one and all for being corrupt, power-hungery and despicable deceivers. I don't think that. When I ask Why can't politicians tell the truth, I mean 'why aren't politicians able to tell the truth and why they shouldn't tell the truth. The public is not ready for the truth. Politicians have to lie. If they didn't, they'd be useless.

Let's take a for instance. Clegg says he 'changed his mind about cuts because of the crisis in Europe'. I don't believe that, and I don't think anyone else did. But I appreciate why he's lying. Clegg changed his mind because he knew that was the condition of coalition. The tories wanted cuts, so we had to give them it. The critic would say this is clegg selling out for power. A fluffy fellow such as myself would say it was a worthwhile trade-off to get all the other things we want through. since he's lying, and everyone knows it, they assume it's the first. But if it is the second, and he said exaclty that, can you imagine what the response would be?

The first thing that would be likely to happen is the coalition would fall apart. It would create seriously bad feeling between the parties, and make continued co=operation very very very difficult. That's patently something we don't want (well, anyone who thinks the compromise worth making in the first place). Clegg lying is therefore to achieve his goals, which if you agree with me are worthwhile (i.e. not power, but AV, inceased CGT etc). If he told the truth he would fail to achieve the change he wants.

The second issue is the public/media reaction. If Clegg said he didn't want cuts, but he was supporting them because he had to in order to get the other stuff agreed to would he be cast as an honest martyr for his cause? Not in the slightest. He'd be ridiculed on two counts: 1) for not standing up for his ideals and 2) for not being a very good politician. The second of these is patently ridiculous as it contradicts the existing criticism that politicians are liars), the first shows an appaling lack of knowledge of politics.

Politics is about deciding what to do, and getting it done. The one is useless without the other. But getting things done requires important people agreeing to do it. That means you've got to keep them happy. Cameron (as PM) is important. So clegg must 'lie' to keep him happy. Rupert Murdoch is powerful, so Cameron must 'lie' (for instance about why he want to cut the license fee) to keep him happy. All MP's 'lie' to their constituents when they're campaigning, because they need to keep their voters happy. They're not being dishonest. They're just being intelligent.

The point is everyone complains about politicians not telling the truth, but if they told the truth they would be both ridiculed and unsuccesful in their pursuits. They would get elected, they wouldn't be respected, and they wouldn't succeed in passing the laws and making the changes they want to make.

Lying is a means to an ends. If the ends are worthwhile, and the means legal, they always justify the ends. Murder and corruption are a different matter, but deceit? That's well within the rules. Meanwhile, complaining about it distracts us from the real issues. Yes - Coulson is lying about knowing about the phone hacking, but he does so to protect himself. Labour are also lying when they claim the moral highground - they're only interested in scoring politicial points. Getting all high and mighty about the lying misses the point. We should be talking about why they're lying, and what they're trying to achieve. Maybe then we can have a real discussion.