“I’m not upset that you lied to me…

… I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you”: Nietzsche

Googling for ‘honest politician’ throws up some funny answers. Uncyclopedia has a great page, stating, “This article is about the mythical creature”. While I don’t think it’s quite that bad, there are many many examples of politicians failing to be honest with voters.

Alistair Darling’s ‘shock’ admission last week that Air Passenger Duty is only a revenue-raising instrument, not a green behaviour-changing one, is surprising only because it is an honest statement from this government about their priorities.

APD was introduced by the Conservatives in 1993 (see – we’ve always been green…) and has been increased sporadically ever since.

I think there’s an argument to be had over whether the rate is set at a suitable level to change behaviour. But that’s not the issue here – the issue is that, as usual, our government is pretending to take the moral high ground and, as usual, failing.

If we want to change the way people live their lives, we need to understand their motivations. If we want to encourage green growth, green behaviour and green living, we need to make sure that the full cost of pollution is paid by the polluter. I’ve argued before (several times) about why the only way that we can realistically change behaviour in sufficient volume is to change the way we charge for pollution.

At the moment, I think we have a huge opportunity to radically alter the way our tax system works. There need to be enormous changes to the amount we raise, the way we spend it, and how we account to the people we raise it from for it. I know this is unlikely to happen but I think that George Osborne’s emergency budget if a Conservative government is elected next year could completely shift the balance from the good (ie jobs, employment, clean technologies) to the bad (pollution, over-consumption, waste).

But the only way that that change would be accepted is if politicians are honest about what they are trying to do. Social engineering by stealth is wrong, and will backfire – either because the policy itself implodes or because the politicians concerned are later found to have misled voters. Whether or not you believe what Andrew Neather wrote about the government’s immigration policies, you can see how his revelations play into the loss of trust in governments (of all colours).

So this is – once again – a call for politicians to be honest with voters. We’re not stupid; we all make choices for ourselves in almost every area of our lives without needing the state to make the choice for us. Part of making choices is having access to clear and unbiased information, and to honest assessments of possible outcomes. Politicians should be honest with us about what they’re trying to achieve – part of the reason I am so supportive of the way that the Conservatives’ implementation plans are coming along is that so much of their thinking focuses on what the desired outcome is.

Politicians should have the courage of their convictions – if, for example, they really believe that they deserve a payrise, or if they really want us to have no say at all in how our children are educated, or if they really think that the state should record everyone’s DNA to combat crime, let them make the argument, and let us vote on it.

I am as loathe as the next person to pay more for my holidays. But if that’s what it takes – and if in return I am rewarded with, for example,  a cleaner environment, better, quieter planes overhead and even incentives to buy locally produced food the rest of the year – and if that’s what I’ve voted for, that’s fine by me.

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