I’m a Hypocrite

Yep, I might as well admit it. I’ve made so many 180’s in my life it’s not even funny. The fear of being called out as a hypocrite used to drive me. Well, it still bothers me just a little. I think this is a feeling most people (at least Americans) feel.

Being raised in a very conservative christian home I was taught that being a hypocrite was a horrible thing. I think that is true for the most part but most of us are hypocrites, and this fear of being a hypocrite is very destructive to critical thinking. Think about it. If a politician changes their position on __ issue they are called out as a hypocrite almost immediately. Remember all the flip flopper jokes about John Kerry?

As I have thought about this term over the past ten years, I began to realize that many are people actually trapped by this fear. If you say you believe X, and then a few months later you start to question your initial statement/belief you are presented with a dilemma. Your pride will say, “stick to your guns” and “hold on to your principles”. Your logical side will say, “you have new information, you should reconsider your position”. Honestly, I think it’s easier to listen to the first voice. I know I used to do that most of the time. I don’t know when it happened but at some point in my early 20’s something changed. I began to question a lot of stuff I used to hold on to. Things like my faith, and religious dogma mostly. That’s another story for another day but the point is, I began to care less about being called a hypocrite and care more about knowing why I believed what I believed. That freed me to be more critical of almost everything. Many things have stood this new critical focus, some haven’t.

Politics & Sports

I’m not really proud to say this but it’s the truth. I voted for John McCain. I do regret that vote. No, I don’t wish I had cast my vote for President Obama. I regret defending McCain and being so unevenly critical on Mr Obama. I used to be a died in the wool conservative Republican. if you do some hunting you can see evidence of that on Twitter and my web sites. I defended the Bush Administration and it’s policies. I defended them pretty rigorously in fact. I do not defend them any more. Now when I here people defend their politicians, it sounds a lot like two sports fans defending their team’s honor. I know that’s what happened to me. Bush had so much criticism that he gained a ton of sympathy from his party and supporters. We should have been more objective and demanded more transparency.

I actually agree with a lot of the criticisms of the Bush era policies now. I don’t think we needed to go into Iraq. I don’t think we need to detain people in Gitmo. I think we need to abide by our laws and Constitution. If we have to do something outside of that then we have the means to amend them. President Bush did a lot to destroy the rule of law in this country and now our current President(Obama) is continuing that destruction.

What annoys me more than anything is the near silence on the left. I understand it. Politics is a sport with we the people as it’s fans. When your captain is cheating it’s really not cheating. It’s only cheating when the other team gets called for it. I get it. But we have to change this or at some point our president will have the power of a dictator. I think most republicans trusted Bush. I know I did. You could see his passion for defending our country. But, he’s not in office now. When we give our leaders powers, they typically don’t give them back. I don’t see President Obama relinquishing the powers that Bush took. Every president in my lifetime has increased their office’s power. At what point do we start questioning this and begin to get concerned about it? I know I’ve thought a lot about this issue and it bothers me.

Declare War

Why not? If it is sooooo important that we sent our men and women to die in a foreign land, shouldn’t we actually declare war at some point. Forget the constitution(most politicians have), why do WE tolerate this. Because our cause is just? Then make it legal. So many presidents have went to war without declaring it that now it isn’t even an issue. President Bush can send them to Iraq and Afghanistan. President Clinton can send them to Bosnia. President George H. W. Bush can send them to Iraq. I could go on but you get the point. We haven’t declared war since WW2. Why?

We Don’t Need a King

The bottom line for me is this. I think our nation has one of the best forms of government that has ever been conceived. The checks, balances and limits in our system should and would work if our elected officials were to follow them. Over time we have seen the dilution of the power of the legislative branch and increase in power of the executive branch. I believe our freedoms will continue to wain and suffer if we continue to allow our presidents to act like kings. We have to stop being FANS and start being critics and educated citizens. It’s ok to question your “team captain”. In fact, I think it’s healthy. So lose the fear of hypocrisy and start questioning again.

I’ve almost written this post many times and the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden finally pushed me to do it. This commentary by Andrew Napolitano about the legality of killing Bin Laden reminded me of the many criticisms of the Bush years. While I’m not a Fox fan or viewer of this show, this is worth a listen.

Yes, I know. Technically I’m not a hypocrite.