Politicians tell voters what they want to hear, even when it makes no sense.

I mentioned before that I like to walk and when I don’t have company, I usually listen to podcasts. Today I was listening to the Freakonomics podcast “We the Sheeple”.

The guest was Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, who is not a big fan of our political system and politicians. In his words,

You know, if you’re a successful politician, you know you don’t succeed by figuring out what’s really going on in the world and trying to explain it to people. You need to find out what people what to hear and then tell it to them. That’s what you see in debates. That’s what you see voters, successful politicians instinctively are trying to read people, trying to read their faces, what does this person want me to say to him, and that’s how they win.

It was a very interesting discussion for those of us who are a bit skeptical about what politicians tell us. It would be a bit of an eye-opener for those who believe everything they say, even if it doesn’t seem to pass the common sense test.