Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Trustworthiness in politics

Our friend Matt Franck neatly sums up the case against the trustworthiness of Rudy Giuliani on abortion issues.

Giuliani would have us believe that his "honest" refusal to pander on abortion is superior to the inconsistent flip-flopping of others. Matt effectively disassembles the honesty of Giuliani’s position, showing how slippery it really is. He also shows that, in politics, trustworthiness depends upon clearly articulating principles to which you can be held, a standard somewhat more readily met by candidates other than the former Mayor of New York.

Read the whole thing.    

Update: Our friend RC2 argues that Matt’s counterexample to RG is also problematical, according to his standard of assessment.

Discussions - 4 Comments

Would someone please send Matt Franck's article to Pat Robertson?

But in Politics as in Life as in Poker the predictability of trustworthiness is a liability if you actually are what you appear to be.

Sorry, John, but that makes no sense.

Are you trying to say it's a good thing if John Edwards is secretly the reincarnation of Jesse Helms?

Maybe Ron Paul is just kidding about the war, and if elected he'd want to occupy the whole wide world?

This sort of thinking is a dead end.

Hmm. I don't think repeating it makes it more persuasive.

You're stretching this "life as a poker game" analogy past the breaking point.

Is there an echo chamber here? I'm curious about the silence as to the G-man's top-cop blowing up in his face. It's a big issue that will toll on his campaign in months to come, not to mention into '08 destroy his "electability" as the case drags on.

Many know you as you appear, but few will feel how you really are. Common, that is not true Machiavelli. While the statement is true, Machiavelli is not actually encouraging people to be disingenuous. I guess I'm not sure if John L. is pointing out the dangers of being honest or glorifying the virtues of being dishonest. Machiavelli was certainly refering to the former, and he did not believe that was an excuse for dishonesty. He was just warning of the problem so that the virtuous leader could deal with it.

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