Hidden Motivations?

[Blue Tempest]

This is something I heard recently, that a good politician should keep their real motivations hidden. Can anyone elaborate on this?

[Dinh AaronMk]

What's for there to elaborate on?

A large part of politics in the public face is to put forward what people want to see, or what you think the group you're advertising to wants to see. Then going about a way of delicately dancing around an issue with a non-answer. For an election stand-point, laying all your cards out on the table would allow for your competition - even from your own party - to probably re-adjust course if they find anything "too popular". And in the general election sense the true intention from everyone is going to be hidden behind a constant barrage of the most "out there" messages to attract as much a following within the party to elect you into a primary; at which point you re-adjust rhetoric in the hopes of reaching across the aisle and whatever demographic group to beat out the other. What you say may not be the "truth", but is more so what people want, or what you or your campaign management think they want to hear.

In office: of course not, we all operate on some level of selfish desire no matter the noble goal. "Pork Belly" is a widely invoked term for at least any project brought home from Washington that puts a load of money into either the local politician's hands, or his friends, and then puts a name on a building to memorialize him for effectively nothing. Actions and words in office can be conducted in the same way as in election, but re-oriented to hide what's really going on and appease the voter base as Washington's backroom deals are cut.

[Blue Tempest]

Or to put it bluntly, Politicians always lie :)

[Gwazi Magnum]

Blue Tempest said
Or to put it bluntly, Politicians always lie :)

[Cayden Black]

Read the Slab for the parts about Chairman Richard Prescott. It actually shows you how a politician is meant to act. Not by lying for its sake but rather through omission.

[Fat Boy Kyle]

Politicians often have to present to the public the notion that they support a particular set of ideas, not because they believe in them, but because the mentioned ideas are popular and likely to win votes. In the UK (at least) political parties also employ 'whips' who keep their members in check, meaning that unless a MP wants to be kicked out of their party they have to be seen to support (in public and voting) most of what their wider party supports regardless of their own beliefs.

[mdk]

Fat Boy Kyle said
Politicians often have to present to the public the notion that they support a particular set of ideas, not because they believe in them, but because the mentioned ideas are popular and likely to win votes. In the UK (at least) political parties also employ 'whips' who keep their members in check, meaning that unless a MP wants to be kicked out of their party they have to be seen to support (in public and voting) most of what their wider party supports regardless of their own beliefs.

I think everyone has 'whips.' Everyone democratic anyway.

Saying 'Politicians are supposed to lie' is a negative interpretation. Another way of saying the same thing would be 'Politicians don't always get to tell the truth.' We could imagine any number of scenarios where a bad truth is worse than a good lie (Maybe Putin asks the Ukrainians 'Does this drag make me look like I poke dudes?'); part of the responsibility that comes with the bigger offices, is that consequences extend to your people, not just upon yourself.

[Brovo]

Politicians take the burden of secret knowledge that the common public cannot and should not. The history of ULTRA is an intriguing example of where political and military secrets ended up being used for the greater good.

If politicians were perfectly honest and spoke of everything they knew, modern society would have ground to a screeching halt by now.

Governments cannot function without secrets.