This is just an idle Sunday musing. There’s nothing much happening on the political scene, right? Yeah, I know, but I’m not going there. Too many people have had too much fun with that situation already.

No, I’m thinking about inconsistency. Specifically, I’m thinking about inconsistency in politics. This isn’t about politicians, it’s about the public, it’s about you and me. Inconsistency in political philosophy leads to rationalization on a grand scale.

I didn’t come up with this myself. There was a piece on NPR about trying to find a name for people who are inconsistent in their political thinking. Some examples would be: environmentalists who drive SUVs, so-called ‘pro-lifers’ who believe in the death penalty, gay Republicans, Clintonian Democrats. Well, you get the drift. Frankly, I can’t remember all the various monikers that the NPR folks came up with because I immediately came up with what I think is the perfect name: Hypocrats.

You’ve got to admit, it’s perfect. Of course what happens when you contort your political philosophy to feed your situational values? You end up like the fellow in the picture. Ouch! But, I suspect that a lot of us do that these days. One of the reasons for this is that politics has taken on a “values” agenda that has nothing to do with values.

Ponder on this for a mo’: politics used to be about the stuff of our collective consciousness. Things were done for (or against) the commonweal. Commonweal: now, that’s word we don’t hear too often anymore. The commonweal was what we were all for and what the other side were against. The thing that did not enter the conversation was the idea that those against us were against a divine plan.

So, the argument could be, were you for the workers or for the capitalists? Were you for freedom of choice or for collective decisions? It wasn’t, if you’re against us you’re against God. The idea of God being on our side was something that we would collectively invoke only in times of war; and even then we were a little reticent about making that claim; as well we ought to be.

Now, back to a situational values-based society where we can buy that SUV and slap a ’support our troops’ yellow magnetic ribbon on the back
and not feel hypocritical at all. We can call ourselves ‘pro-life,’ but embrace the concept of the lethal injection (wasn’t it Rep. Barney Franks who said that Republicans support life: from conception to birth?). We can rationalize ourselves right every time.

Okay, let’s get this one out of the way: How can one be pro-choice and anti-death penalty? Because that dichotomy is a false one. It only makes sense if you consider being pro-choice to be a murder’s option. If you feel that being pro-choice is about a woman having control over her own body, then you understand that there is no parallel between the 2 positions. Now, if you can accept the concept of being ‘pro-life’ and still embrace the death penalty; that, my friend, is inconsistent. Got that? So, are we going to deal with politics or values? Politics is something for the public arena, values are your personal choice. Consistency comes from knowing where you stand in relation to the commonweal without standing in judgement of other people’s personal beliefs.

So Hypocrats indulge themselves in contortionist politics and end up like this fellow. They’re not really conservative Democrats. They’re not really liberal Republicans. They’re not even Purplecans. They’re just twisted sisters.

Please give what you can to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).

And, of course

*Yes, it’s from Hamlet. Though I think that the Beach Boys said it better: be true to your school.