GOP Has Gone Full Tilt on Hypocrisy
I have been trying to put my finger on it…what has changed. Those who pay attention to the news, and US politics likely know what I am talking about. It didn’t used to be like this. Something changed in the last 20 years. I think it may be the hypocrisy. When the two parties spar on issues, there has certainly always been hypocrisy, particularly in attacking the faults of your opponent, when you have the same ones. But in the age of Mitch McConnell, the GOP has gone full tilt.
It’s no longer an equal playing field, with a veneer of hypocrisy. You know, things like respect, decorum, good faith when debating issues and policy. Stuff like that. Mitch McConnell rose in the Senate, and became the leader, ushering in an abandoning of any semblance of morals, ethics, or principle that elected officials have any duty to the American people they serve.
Many are likely stymied (as am I, oftentimes) to see his whole goal.
Why not pass such easy legislation as HR1 and HR4 to secure our elections and ensure the will of all citizens are heard in our elections?
Why is he so myopically focused on stacking the court, allowing hundreds of House passed bills to rot on his desk?
Why does he rarely know, when asked, what the President has said or done, even though it’s his job?
Why did he have something to say about every single thing President Obama said, did, or wore?
Why does he gaslight every issue?
I have to wonder if the answer lies in the level of hypocrisy that the GOP has unlocked. They tell their constituents they care about patriotism, while trampling on the rights of their citizens. They say they care about working families, soldiers, and veterans, while voting against funding and resources to help them, at the same time as they are cashing checks from lobbyists, taking dark money from PACs, and refusing to any level of accountability or transparency. They talk about “values”, while marginalizing and inciting hate towards Black Americans, LGBTQ Americans, and Muslim Americans.
But it’s more than that. The standards they demand of Democratic Presidents, and Democratic officials in Congress, is not one they will abide by. They refuse to be held to the same standards anymore. This is how our institutions of democracy truly break down.
I get all the arguments for having a third party. OK, I don’t. I know there are a lot. But we have, since the dawn of this country, been represented by a two-party system. Before third-party supporters decide yet another Presidential election is a good time to shortcut creating a legitimate national party, please don’t. One of the major two-party candidates is going to be elected, and voting third party will only help one of them. Voting is a right, but it is also a privilege and a responsibility. Get people elected third party, locally across the country, and build a strong national party. Then join us in a Presidential year, I beg you.
The two-party system can work, but it can’t if the aisles are not balanced by equal expectations that at the end of the day they are all here to serve the people. This is public service, and we need a return to that expectation across the aisle. I’m not suggesting Democratic representatives in Congress are perfect, but I am suggesting that they talk and act with the accountability and transparency I want in my government. The GOP does not live up to this anymore, and until they do, I don’t see how anyone can vote for them to represent the people.
Right now, they only seem to be serving Mitch McConnell and themselves.
