Hypocrisy, thy name is politicians

There’s a lot of things I dislike: olives, mosquito bites, the color orange, that weird smell that comes from my kitchen sink randomly and with no apparent source. There are relatively few things I hate, but hypocrisy is pretty damn high on that list.

The thing I can’t stand about hypocrisy is that it betrays a lack of self-awareness and objective examination. Hypocrisy is an immediate indicator that a person’s philosophical opinions and beliefs are nothing more an excuse to behave how they want, when they want, while controlling others as much as possible. As Mark Twain said, “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.”

I couldn't find a good Mark Twain pic,
so hopefully this Samuel Clemens guy will do

I find hypocritical politics to be especially aggravating because it’s so easy to see the hypocrisy and so few people apparently care.

The national debt under Donald Trump ballooned by nearly $8 trillion dollars. During his 4 years in office hardly a challenge was raised by Republicans regarding the budgets proposed by Trump. For a party that claims to be deeply invested in fiscal responsibility, the irresponsible spending of Trump didn’t affect voter turnout as he received more votes than any Republican candidate ever. Clearly fiscal conservatism is little more than hypocrisy in more words.

Joe Biden has been president for less than 3 days, and already Republican legislators are criticizing his agenda on the basis of… the national debt. The national debt was a non-issue for 4 years while Trump was in office. If it was an issue, it was never a serious enough one to cause anyone to oppose expensive boondoggles like an ineffective border wall, or spending another $700 billion a year making the world’s largest military the even largerest military in the world. Everyone from conservative pundits to and Republican voters ignored the national debt or excused it away until the moment someone from outside their group was back in charge. Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.

The national debt certainly won’t be the only thing that suddenly becomes an issue now that the executive branch is under control of the Democrats. While COVID-19 was overblown and not that big of a concern, every instance of a healthy 40-year-old getting the vaccine before someone in a nursing home will be held up as the administration failing to seriously tackle the issue.

Donald Trump’s 298 golf trips were rarely a concern for Republican’s, yet I suspect Biden will be roundly criticized for taking a vacation at some point over the next 4 years. Trump’s self-dealing pay-to-play policies around his properties were a non-issue, as were the numerous indictments of people involved in his campaign and presidency, but Hunter Biden taking a consulting job with a Chinese firm will be discussed as a sure sign of Joe’s corruption for the next 48 months.

For 4 years, the Republican controlled senate basically did as they pleased, using simple majority votes to install 3 judges to the Supreme Court and hundreds to the federal and appellate courts. Now that they are technically in the minority, Mitch McConnell is arguing how important it is to respect the minority party and give them a say. The hypocrisy here is staggering. You don’t get to rule with a might-makes-right attitude for 4 years and then accuse the other side of being hypocrites if they decide to play by that same standard when they hold power.

For as much as I hate Republican hypocrisy, I hold equal disdain for the hypocrisy of Democrats. For all their talk of working for everyday people, the bulk of Democratic policies work to reinforce monied interests while leaving scraps for the people. Every European country has some form of universal healthcare. They spend less for better outcomes than the U.S. and yet the party for the people nominated a man who thinks the current system is the way to go. Democrats largely support student loan forgiveness, even though it’s a high regressive policy that will disproportionately benefit high-income households. The last time they held all 3 branches of government they basically did piss all with it because inaction is safer for re-election.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, I really hate hypocrisy. And for as much as I hated the last 4 years, I suspect these next 2 are going to be even worse.