F. G. Bailey's The Prevalence of Deceit
Another cause for my last blog entry, on the three lies of government
ethics, is that I had just
finished F. G. Bailey's book <span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prevalence-Deceit-F-G-Bailey/dp/0801497736/ref=sr…; target="”_blank”">The
Prevalence of Deceit</a></span> (Cornell, 1991). The book is about the
close connection between deceit and power. Bailey pictures politics as
a contest for power that employs rhetoric. The goal of rhetoric is to
persuade (the politician's most important means of manipulation) and,
in this case, to persuade possible supporters that the politician is
telling the truth. Not <span>a</span>
truth, but <span>the </span>truth.<br>
<br>
Not only are there two kinds of truth, but there are also two kinds of
untruth*. The kind we're most familiar with is defined as saying
something that is
not the case. But the most common untruth in politics is what Bailey
calls the "basic lie," fixing as truth what is ambiguous and arguable.
Part of the reason basic lies are so prevalent in politics is that
citizens demand truth in public affairs, and they don't mean the first
kind of truth, because little in politics is verifiable. What they want
is certainties, <span>the </span>truth,
which requires basic lies, such as "cutting taxes will make everyone
wealthier" or "development will ruin the character of our community."
Basic lies are collusive lies.<br>
<br>
The goal of basic lies is to set the terms of the culture in which
politicians act and in which the rest of us live. And our culture
exists in the form of rhetoric. Bailey wrote, "What purports to be a
search for truth ... is in reality an effort to dominate by
persuasion. In practice the argument is 'resolved' either when
one side succeeds in intimidating the other or when circumstances force
a compromise ... Life in society involves power, and power involves
persuasion, and persuasion in practical affairs where interests are at
stake is not determined ... by logic, but by its false equivalent,
rhetoric."<br>
<br>
Hand in hand with basic lies is keeping secrets. "One keeps secrets
from the people in order to control them, for fear that greater
knowledge might diminish the support they give or even make them
obstructive." But rhetoric and secrets are not limited to manipulating
the citizenry, they are also used to manipulate and wield power against
other politicans.<br>
<br>
This view of truth-telling fits in well with the government ethics
dichotomy of public interest and self-interest. As Bailey wrote,
"whatever [political] adversaries assert to be the truth usually turns
out to be what they think is in their own interest."<br>
<br>
Ethics is central to basic lies. Bailey concluded his book by saying,
"Politicians, who are by definition contestants to make one or another
value prevail, cannot avoid moral questions. Even when they take
trouble to find the 'facts,' it is only so that they can better impose
their own definitions of the right and the good."<br>
<br>
According to Bailey, even umpires, such as government ethicists, cannot
stand above the fray. "To be effective, [they] must, like any other
contestant, strive to make their own definition of the situation, their
own basic lie, prevail." I think he's right. We say that an effective,
independent ethics program is necessary to make people have trust in
government, so that they will participate in it and accept its
decisions. This is a basic lie, no matter how much we believe it. And
we contend to get people to accept it as the truth.<br>
<br>
<small>*I mean two kinds of truth in this particular sense. Untruths
come in many forms, including error, deceit, lies, concealment,
hypocrisy, convention, propaganda, fiction, and myth.</small><br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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