The Hypocrisy of Politics

For those who followed Ben’s guest post to his site last week, this post should look familiar. This is what I guest posted on his site in return for his post on mine. If you didn’t follow it, enjoy this one!

“You Lie!” When Joe Wilson yelled these words at President Obama, the entire left-wing of our political spectrum stood outraged. They wanted him to resign, Congress to impeach him, and the American public to lynch him. This man dared to insult the Presidency, and they wanted blood.
The Right, of course, defended him.

“That’s Wrong…” When Justice Alito shook his head and whispered these words during the State of the Union, the left again took up arms. They were upset that Alito dared to challenge Obama, even though Obama was outright lying, and Alito was defending the truth. As Alito’s statement countered their desired position, they fought against him.
The Right, of course, defended him.

“General Betray-us.” When a series of commercials produced by Moveon.org talking about General David Howell Petraeus and how he lied to out country showed up on TVs nationwide, the Right took up arms. They challenged the contentions, called the makers traitors, and generally wanted the ads took off air. They were upset that the Left had dared to challenge one of our generals, and they were out for blood.
The Left, of course, defended them.

“…he [Bush] is a moral coward… ” When Albert Gore stated this against then-president Bush, he ired the entirety of the right, yet pleased the left. This statement was regarding the assault into Iraq, and the American response, in general, to the 9/11 attacks. The Right believed that our president had been insulted, that the left was simply politicking, and that Gore was outright insane.
The Left, of course, defended him.

Am I the only person who sees a problem here? In just these four examples, we can see how both sides of the aisle stand around, yelling back-and-forth, arguing over the exact same facts. The Right will defend those of their persuasion, and the Left will do the same in turn, even though they are defending the same thing just days after they attacked it. This seems to be the status quo of American Politics, and nothing will change this.

Yet, it wasn’t always like this. There was a time in this country, long before I was born, where both sides of the spectrum held similar standards and respected each other. There was a time when our parties sat around, found common ground, and actually got stuff done. With the exception of the slavery incidents, until the mid 1900s, the politicians of our nation treated each other with respect, and they held themselves to the same standards that they held each other.

Alas, the modern political climate no longer allows for this sort of standard. Instead, the hot-heads on both sides of the spectrum (also known as Commies or Neo-cons, depending on who you listen to) require all politicians to attack the other side, no matter what. The moderates, who really can’t stand this sort of bullocks, are unable to do anything about it.

This, of course, is where I start to have issues with our political system. As a two-party system, I understand the need to show that ‘your side’ is better than the ‘other side,’ yet, this is only detrimental to our country. We can not have a productive system where the powers that be stand around arguing, and getting nothing done. Instead of working together to better America (and we can all agree that that needs to be done), they are too busy fighting each other.

Now, you might be wondering what the point of this post is. To that, I simply say, the point of this post is to get us, as a people, to stop this sort of rational. It is time that we stop electing people who are hypocritical. Time to stop giving them donations, and stop funding their campaigns. It is time that our nation stands up and says NO MORE, time to show that we believe that double-standards should not exist. It is time to tell our elected officials that we hold them to a high standard, and that they should hold themselves to an equal one.

-Robert M. Barga