[Ilya Somin] Why politicians lie

Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

In one of her speeches revealed by Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton admitted that she sometimes takes “public” positions that are at odds with her “private” position. In other words, she sometimes lies to the public about her true views. Only the most naive observers find it surprising that politicians try to deceive people in this way, or believe that Hillary Clinton is an unusual exception.

I. Lying to Facilitate Deals.

In an insightful recent article, Brookings Institution fellow Jonathan Rauch describes why such deceptions are common, and may even be beneficial in many cases:

In politics, hypocrisy and doublespeak are tools. They can be used nefariously, illegally or for personal gain, as when President Richard M. Nixon denied Watergate complicity, but they can also be used for legitimate public purposes, such as trying to prevent a civil war, as in Lincoln’s case, or trying to protect American prestige and security, as when President Dwight D. Eisenhower denied that the Soviet Union had shot down a United States spy plane….

Is it hypocritical to take one line in private, then adjust or deny it in public? Of course. But maintaining separate public and private faces is something we all do every day. We tell annoying relatives we enjoyed their visits, thank inept waiters for rotten service, and agree with bosses who we know are wrong….

Often, the only way to get something done is to have separate private and public truths. Behind closed doors, nothing is settled until everything is settled. Until the deal is done, everyone can pretend not to have decided anything. But the moment the conversation becomes public, plausible deniability ceases. Everyone knows I’ve made an offer. Angry interest groups, adversaries in the other party, and even purists in my own party start cutting attack ads and lining up challengers to prevent a deal and defeat me.

Rauch is absolutely right to point out that political duplicity is sometimes a necessary tool for facilitating deals, negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvering. But he does not consider two other major reasons why politicians lie, both of which often involve the manipulation of public ignorance.

II. Lying to Exploit Public Ignorance.

Political leaders often conceal their true views when the latter diverge from majority public opinion, or from the beliefs of a key part of their base. Both Barack Obama and Dick Cheney spent years concealing their then-unpopular support for same-sex marriage – only coming out of the closet when the political winds changed. Well-informed observers knew that their true views differed from their public positions long before Obama and Cheney openly admitted it. But they nonetheless kept up the pretense because it did effectively fool some substantial number of less knowledgeable voters.

Some of Hillary Clinton’s deceptions probably fit this pattern, as well. For example, she and her advisers likely know that a $15 dollar minimum wage is a dangerous idea that will cost jobs, but pretend otherwise in order to please the Democratic Party’s base. During the Republican primaries, Ted Cruz demonstrated another variant on this type of political lying by trying to deceive voters about his record on immigration policy. Cruz likely knew that many voters did not know about the details of his record, and would no take the time to check it carefully.

Widespread voter ignorance also incentivizes another common type