The Left Wins because It Fights Politics on the Field of Morality, by Ben Shapiro. Currently the US politicians who tell the most lies are the most popular:
Hillary Clinton lies routinely to her own supporters. She campaigned on the ridiculous pledge to stop crony politicking — but meanwhile, she’s been plagued by allegation after allegation of pay-for-play corruption at the State Department, where she traded access for donations to the Clinton Foundation Official Slush Fund. Hillary says she wants to take the rich down a peg, but she and her husband turned their “dead broke” status into a $100 million fortune on the back of backscratching from friends at firms such as Goldman Sachs — companies she pretends to hate.
Just 11 percent of Americans think Hillary Clinton is honest and trustworthy….
After flip-flopping positions on every issue from due process for gun removal to punishment for abortion, Trump has reportedly decided to renege on his central campaign promise: to deport 11 million illegal immigrants.
Just 16 percent of Americans think Trump is honest and trustworthy. …
Personal unpopularity, as pollsters have noted, now seems completely disconnected from election results. Voters know they’re pulling the lever for liars and charlatans, but they don’t seem to care. … The most truthful candidates in the Republican primaries did the worst. …
Two reasons:
First off, honesty and trustworthiness are now seen as obstacles to political success. Americans think that the government is so corrupt that we need corrupt people to fix it — people who won’t work within the system, but who will instead shatter it.
Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton to use her corruption on behalf of leftism. Republicans nominated Donald Trump to use his corruption on behalf of nationalist populism.
[Second:] In the absence of loyalty to political principle, Americans instead fall into god-worship for their politicians. Most Americans believe in certain political solutions: higher taxes or less regulation, more military funding or criminal-justice reform. But few Americans have a coherent political worldview. Why is one solution better than another? Why should we respect some rights while quashing others?
For decades, both Left and Right have answered: Certain policies are better because certain policies are more effective. But effectiveness is [often impossible to judge, because of the complexity.]
Morality is the main basis for deciding political support:
In the end, most Americans decide which policies they prefer on the basis of morality. And because Americans no longer learn political morality — they no longer learn about the moral framework that supports the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — they fall back on bumper-sticker morality.
Democrats believe in “Stronger Together.” Republicans believe in “America First.” …
The only corrective to this perverse marriage of cynicism and star-worship lies in a revival of principle. Imagine a world in which we hold our politicians to the standard of God-given rights protected by a government designed not to invade those rights, in which interest checks interest, in which states and the federal government balance each other in a great ongoing battle for power.
