Would you like to see Politicians hooked up to a Polygraph when answering questions?

It may scare some, but Polygraphs are junk science at best. There is no accurate way to determine if someone is lying based on bodily reactions. Even body language is not as effective as most make it out to be.

Specifically Polygraphs measure bodily functions, like a heart rate, and translate that into oscillating function on a piece of paper. The graph is then interpreted based on an initial test run with easy questions.

The problems lie in that the bodily functions measured are more strongly associated with fear, anger, adrenaline, etc. which may or may not indicate a lie. The person could simply be getting angry, anxious, or scared for a variety of reasons. It doesnt have to be because the person lied. He or She might simply be insulted, intimidated, or virtually anything.

Then of course, there are other problems, like how some people know how to fool the machine, or simply human error could misread the graph. There isnt much a human can tell from squiggly lines.

The only real lie detector in reality is good old fashioned investigative work. For example, Herman Cain sounded pretty damn sure of himself when he said Ron Paul was wrong "I never called people that wanted to audit the Fed ignorant". Well, anyone that did their research knows that he's called people that want to audit the fed "stupid" in his own book, and while he didnt use the word "ignorant" he did state shortly before that debate that people that want to audit the fed simply dont know anything about the fed. Well, "not knowing" is the definition of ignorant.