A City Filled With Paid Liars

I've said this before, but a big problem with DC (political DC, not the broader city) culture is that so many people are paid to lie, so the social structure would fall apart if lying wasn't tacitly approved by everyone involved.

I'm not saying everyone is evil. Some of that lying is mostly harmless stuff, the kind of lying we all generally accept as part of life. You know, embellishing a bit to make your boss look good. Putting the best spin things. Shining a lot of turds.

But a lot of that lying is "lobbyist for EvilCorp" type stuff. And, hey, we're all friends here. Politics is a career. People might enter as a staffer for Congressperson Dogooder and then find themselves working for Satan, Inc. (DC office), a few years later. Am I going to abandon my friend group as they move through the ranks, from lowly congressional office interns to positions like Vice President of Genocide Promotion for the Center for American Advancement?

They invite me to their vacation homes in Tuscany, after all.

When the culture thrives on lies, you don't last long if it bothers you. You don't last long if you even notice it.  You don't last at all if you bring it up.

The system is corrupt, not just individuals.