16
HONESTY –
LIES AND POLITICS
Moritz Leuenberger, Switzerland
The author is a life-long politician, from 1995-2010 in the Swiss Gov-
ernment as Federal Councillor (Minister) for Energy, Traffic, Environ-
ment and Communication. He held many widely acknowledged speeches
and published respective books on Ethics in Politics.
16.1 Cunning and Lies^187
No, the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible (Matthew 5) is not the
leitmotif of daily life. Those who practise cunning are not despised; on
the contrary, they are admired. The smart businessman who knows how
to do well for himself, the wily politician astutely becoming part of the
‘scene’, even a Good Soldier Svejk are shining examples of this. Cun-
ning is sometimes unfairly considered to be reprehensible in our part of
the world. It can, however, be a desirable and legitimate method to
shape tactics in social and political life. In China, it is a science in its
own right, as Harro von Senger vividly describes in his book, “The 36
187
Part 16.1 and 16.2 have been published in German in: Leuenberger, Moritz,
Lüge, List und Leidenschaft. Ein Plädoyer für die Politik, Zürich: Limmat Ver-
lag 2007, 63-67 (Lies, Cunning and Passion - a Plea for Politics). Translation of
the whole text in chapter 16 by Stephen Brown.