TThe general election campaign is at its peak, with attack ads, often based on lies, filling the airwaves, web pages, and mailboxes.
We see them every election. TV spots with eerie narration and grainy black and white photography, and flyers with well-chosen quotes and dramatic headlines. We roll our eyes and accept lies as an inevitable part of a chaotic democracy.
But lies matter. It poisons our debates, breeds cynicism toward government, and makes it difficult to seriously discuss the issues of the day. When politicians lie about issues like immigration and climate, we can’t agree on common facts to work together to find solutions.
I have spent most of my career studying lies. He has worked, first as the founder of the fact-checking site PolitiFact, and more recently as the author of a book about how and why politicians lie. I conclude that politicians lie because they believe it will benefit them. It helps you earn points on base and get rewards from donors. It has little if any impact. Academic researchers have found fact-checking to be effective in correcting misconceptions, but political reporters and independent fact-checkers cannot keep up with the volume of claims. The partisan media either ignores the lies or repeats them. Because lies stir up anger and keep viewers and readers engaged.
But we can change this dynamic, especially by making lies politically unpopular.
You can borrow an idea from Grover Norquist, president of the conservative anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform. Mr. Norquist, a longtime Washington power broker, pledged to “oppose any tax increases” that the majority of Republican senators and representatives, as well as many other Republican candidates and officials, have signed on to. is the executor of the protection oath. By praising signatories and seeking to pressure opponents, Mr. Norquist has been a unique force in establishing the Republican Party’s anti-tax culture.
While you may not agree with his anti-tax platform, it shows how peer pressure and party culture can create change. Now, let’s think about the fight against lies again. If candidates and elected officials are subjected to the same pressure to lie as Republicans feel when they oppose taxes, it becomes part of their core beliefs. It may make people think twice about including falsehoods in advertisements and leaflets.
Read more: 9 ways to respond to political misinformation
In fact, reducing lying requires changing incentives and creating a culture of no lying on both sides. (Republicans lie more often in my research, but Democrats produce more outrageous lies. Pledges need to be bipartisan.)
I’m not the first to suggest this idea. A group called Intentional Insights attempted something similar in 2017, the Pro-Truth Pledge, but failed to gain the necessary visibility or critical mass of signatories.
Lying pledges (relatively simple pledges by candidates and officials not to lie in campaign materials or to the media) require an organization to track signers. This will increase peer pressure and interest from voters. Candidates could boast about their efforts in ads and speeches, as many of Norquist’s signatories have done. There is also the possibility of creating a fuss over someone who does not sign a contract.
Fulfillment of the pledge will be left to public opinion. Take the words of someone who, as editor of PolitiFact, was often accused of being the “arbiter of truth.” Things will get confusing if a single organization tries to determine who broke the pledge. But groups don’t have to wade into that thicket. All you have to do is track the signers, and you can leave it up to public opinion to decide whether they are liars or not.
Opposition and rival political parties will take every opportunity to denounce violations. Journalists and fact-checkers can investigate complaints just as they would for corruption or other accusations. This debate, and even the uproar over the accused offenders, will heighten the importance of lies. Voters will be paying attention. As a result, there will be fewer lies.
Beyond the Big Lie, by Bill Adair, published by Atria Atria Publishing Group, a division of Simon & Schuster. Copyright (c) 2024 by Bill Adair
