Once a Liar, Always a Liar

The amount of public hypocrisy and willingness of the people to ignore or excuse it is a measure of societal corruption.

My Mississippi granddaddy always said that once a person lies, they are always a liar. He didn’t mean that in the context of them never meriting forgiveness, his point was that once a person lies, it shows they will lie and they should be considered with an appropriate degree of suspicion and the more times they lie, the greater the suspicion necessary when dealing with them.

I lie. Everybody does - and if they say they don’t, that’s a lie.

We all have done it to avoid hurting someone’s feelings (“Do these pants make my butt look big?”) or to protect someone from an unpleasant situation. That is called a “white” lie - which, I am confident, someone on MSNBC will deduce is racist and an example of white supremacy, if they haven’t already.

Beyond the “white” versions, there are lies intentionally concocted to harm.

But if I truly believe in equality under the law - or even in social conventions and customs - my actions must be consistent in that regard, therefore; it stands to reason that if I criticize you for doing a thing, I am also forbidding myself from doing or ignoring that I may have already done that thing.

It would also logically follow that if I commit a hypocritical act, you should call it out for public notice and I should do the same to you - because we both have a duty to our fellow citizens to sound an alarm when danger is present.

This is the most basic of social contracts. It is one in which I have a duty to you and you have a duty to me to act to preserve the trust and comity necessary in a civil society.

So, for example, if I criticize or threaten the Texas government, alleging they are engaging in gerrymandering, I better not be the governor or member of the state legislatures from a state that has already gerrymandered - say California, Massachusetts, or Illinois - else I be recognized as a hypocrite and a liar, someone not to be trusted.

In Western culture, there has never been a formal legal punishment specifically for hypocrisy as a standalone offense. However, hypocrisy has historically been condemned and addressed through social, moral, and religious mechanisms rather than codified law.

In Christian traditions, hypocrisy was heavily criticized, especially in the New Testament, where Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their outward piety masking inner corruption (e.g., Matthew 23:27-28). While not a legal punishment, hypocrites were subject to social ostracism, public shaming, or spiritual penance within religious communities. The medieval Church sometimes imposed penances or excommunication for hypocrisy tied to moral failings.

During the Renaissance and Enlightenment, hypocrisy was mocked through literature and satire—think of Molière’s plays like Tartuffe, which exposed religious hypocrisy. Public ridicule served as a cultural punishment, damaging reputations and social standing, though this was informal.

While hypocrisy itself wasn’t punished, but actions stemming from it (e.g., fraud, deceit, or perjury) could lead to legal consequences. In medieval Europe, if a leader’s hypocrisy led to abuse of power or betrayal, they might face fines, banishment, or execution, though the charge would be the specific crime, not hypocrisy.

Today, hypocrisy is addressed - largely ineffectually - through public opinion, media exposure, or political accountability rather than legal penalties. For instance, politicians caught in hypocritical acts (e.g., advocating family values while engaging in scandals) face reputational damage or electoral loss.

In Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Edmund Burke wrote:

"The people are the natural defenders of their own liberties; but when they become corrupt, they cease to be so."

Burke was pointing out that corruption within a society undermines its ability to uphold liberty.

Hypocrisy is a moral failing that may or may not lead to a legal failing - but I think the level of hypocrisy, especially among elected officials, political leaders, and so-called "thought leaders" is a measure of the degree of total societal corruption.

We aren’t looking too great right now.