Within political science, honesty in politicians is an example of a valence issue - something on which all voters agree that "more is better than less". This is not to say that all voters want their politicians to be honest all the time. As an extreme example, few criticize Churchill or Roosevelt for intentionally misleading the Axis powers during World War II. According to political scientist John Mearsheimer, it is widely believed that honest politicians are rare. Mearsheimer has however argued that evidence shows political lying is much less common than is generally assumed, especially in international politics, where it is very rarely effective. He concedes it is relatively common for politicians to lie to their own domestic publics. Former House Representative Bob Edgar has argued tha