Why Truth Matters for Democracy

The philosopher Hannah Arendt once dryly noted: “truth and politics are on rather bad terms with each other” (1961, p. 227)

No kidding. Right now, truth and politics in the U.S. seem to be not only on bad terms. They appear to be in open warfare.

It is a war that can feel inevitable. Whenever politics gets really heated, reason often seems to go out the window. We think with our gut, stick with our prejudices, and use reason only to rationalize it all away. Decades of psychological research have borne this out. The political brain is generally not the rational brain; it is the conforming brain.

And yet, the pursuit of truth is absolutely crucial for democracy. Despite all the barriers that exist in our way—social media, lying politicians, a decaying journalistic culture, and even human psychology—citizens in a democracy must find ways to distinguish what’s true from what’s false. Democracy is at stake.

Can Democracy Survive Without Truth?

Democracy depends on citizens being informed. People need accurate information about climate change, for example, in order to know how to survive its effects. They need to know which country invaded Ukraine in order to figure out which side to support and why. And they need to know what The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is really doing in order to know whether to be frightened by its actions.

That much is obvious. Democracy suffers whenever a government actively deceives its citizens or just prevents them from having access to accurate information.

But there is a deeper connection between truth and democracy here, too.

The Cost of Losing Reliable Information

When citizens lack reliable sources, when they can’t determine what’s true or false, political communication itself suffers. It becomes memefied. Rather than giving reasons and facts for our opinions, we end up just trading insults back and forth, or signaling to our own side how virtuous we are.

The memefication of political discourse is a sign that democracy has broken down. When all we are doing is trading insults or making fun of the other side, we aren’t sharing information. Yet, democracy relies on citizens being able to do just that. No one can know everything, so we rely on others to share what they know. Trading reasons makes us all better informed.

Caption: “When truth becomes a meme—how social media shapes politics and blurs the line between fact and fiction.”

Source: Designed by Freepik.

When Governments Stop Caring About Truth, Democracy Suffers

Most fundamentally, democratic communication also rests on mutual respect. In a real democracy, citizens may not agree on what to do about their common problems, but they owe each other a certain amount of basic respect—just for being a fellow citizen and human being. That means that sharing information is democratically important. We owe each other reasons for our opinions—not just cruel jokes.

That’s the deepest reason for thinking the pursuit of truth is important for democracy. We can’t give reasons for our opinions unless we have them in the first place. But you can’t have reasons for what you believe if the government prevents you from finding out what’s true—or false. That’s why, a government, even an elected government, becomes less democratic to the extent that it ceases caring about truth.