You're certainly not alone in thinking along these lines.  I have no recollection of feeling that my attempts at lying didn't work, possibly because since early childhood I've been an incurable truth-teller.  After getting into the Free Software movement and trying to understand politics, I started feeling that this inability to lie is both a blessing and a handicap.  I share your feeling that it puts us at some disadvantage, very much like the unfair battles between good and evil in fiction, to some extent mirrored in ethical or legal restraints on what e.g. cops and judges are allowed to do, vs the “anything goes” that some criminals take.  It still feels right, and I hope enough people value the honesty of playing within the boundaries of ethics that what could amount purely to a handicap ends up also being perceived favorably.  Besides, it makes the challenge of defeating an opponent that might resort to anything, while we refuse to use certain unethical weapons, a lot more interesting ;-)