Huainanzi - Entry 5

When people are influenced by their rulers, they follow what the rulers do, not what they say.
~ a passage from The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary ~

Let's get one thing out of the way at the outset: Governments lie! It doesn't matter if they are democracies, monarchies, dictatorships or a little bit of all three. It doesn't matter if they embrace capitalism, socialism or feudalism. It doesn't matter if they lean towards Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism or any other ism one can think of.

Governments lie as a general rule because people lie. Parents lie to their children. Spouses/partners lie to each other. Siblings and best friends aren't always truthful. Teachers, lawyers, accountants, grocery store clerks and religious authorities don't tell it like it is.

Some people are untruthful every now and then. Some lie more frequently and some folks state untruths as often as they breathe air!

If you think someone is telling you a fib, what are you likely to do? You watch to see if their actions match up with their words. When they don't, more often than not, you have caught them in a lie.

When governments say one thing, but do another, this tends to produce cynical citizens. The bad example set becomes an excuse for the people to behave in the same manner.

If you want to teach someone how to be virtuous, you model the behavior you want to convey. This is as true for government as it is for teachers and parents. Heck, it's true for every one of us!!

To read the introduction to this ongoing series, go here.