Hypocrisy and Hypocrisy

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Thursday, July 2. 2009

VDH struggles mightily to identify some theme to make sense out of the ways moral flaws and hypocrisies are played out in the politics of today.

While I admire his effort and enjoy his examples, I think he mostly misses a simple point, the one Lyndon Johnson made about some Central American dictator: "He may be an SOB, but he's our SOB."

It's pure politics, VDH. Politics is not the place to look for moral consistency, moral energy, or intellectual integrity. This is why many believe a degree of sociopathy and narcissism are required in politics.

(As Ace puts it re Sanford: "You can get away with being a bastard, but you can't get away with being a buffoon.")

To the Left, at least, politics is war in which, as they often brag, the ends may justify the means because they like to believe that they are well-intentioned. "By all means necessary.." etc.

I always grant more trust to those who claim to be self-interested - even if they are lying - than to those who claim virtue.

Update: More on public virtue from Rick Moran.

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, Politics at 17:26 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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"Politics is not the place to look for moral consistency, moral energy, or intellectual integrity."

Name one place where we find this, BD. I can't.
`

#1 Meta on 2009-07-02 18:11 (Reply)

At Maggie's Farm, of course! Silly question.

#1.1 Bird Dog on 2009-07-02 18:15 (Reply)

"Name one place where we find this, BD. I can't."

The mirror?

#1.2 Luther on 2009-07-02 18:24 (Reply)

We are strong because we are pure of heart!

#2 Bird Dog on 2009-07-02 19:51 (Reply)

I'll read the VDH piece later when I have tim'e. But there's no need to struggle to understand the "moral flaws and hypocrisies are played out in the politics of today'.

We live in a system that still functions as a democracy. Unfortunately we've passed the point of no return - 50.1% of the population that is either freaks or deadbeats or has bottomless sympathy for freaks and deadbeats.

From here on out we will only see this get worse. The margins have been exceeded. An increasing number our Our Fellow Citizens will go over to the Dark Side and declare themselve "in need" or "victims" (euphemisms for freaks and deadbeats).

Say goodnight.

#3 Knucklehead (Link) on 2009-07-02 20:01 (Reply)

White man speak with forked tongue, Bird Dog.

Watch out for those double- and triple-talking sociopaths who fake selfishness, weakness, and sin to get you to lower your guard because of their seeming honesty and humility about their flaws.

#4 Dr. Bliss on 2009-07-02 20:32 (Reply)

"Name one place where we find this [moral consistency, moral energy, or intellectual integrity], BD. I can't."

Chop Point School, Woolwich, Maine... and Maggie's Farm, natch...

#5 The Distributist on 2009-07-02 20:56 (Reply)

"An increasing number our Our Fellow Citizens will go over to the Dark Side and declare themselve "in need" or "victims" .

Wonder why the lyric of this song keeps playing on the radio in my head?
'We're headed downhill like a snowball headed straight forHell'.

-Off topic-
It's amusing to watch Juan Williams try to match wits with
with the Conservative General Dr. Charles Krauthammer

#6 ron on 2009-07-02 21:19 (Reply)

"It's amusing to watch Juan Williams try to match wits with
with the Conservative General Dr. Charles Krauthammer."

I know. I never miss Brett, and never can I sit through the show without a little cringing because Krauthammer really is The Hammer. Brilliant man!

But at least Juan is far from enamored with Obama.
`

#6.1 Meta on 2009-07-02 22:53 (Reply)

Ron, Meta, Buddy Larsen:After the AC brouhaha cooled down, here are my Five Suggestions for Ineffective Blog Postings. Yes, some may consider it biased, but consider the source!

In looking at the issue with a cooler head, I agree with your comments that it was a communication issue. When most people are in agreement, the need to channel disagreement in a productive way does not come up. When there is disagreement, it needs to be expressed in a manner that does not ruffle feathers, unless one wants a flame war.

It can perhaps be broken down into three rules: make no assumptions, stick to the text if you are making a comment about a previous posting, and keep it as brief and concise as possible.

#7 Gringo on 2009-07-02 23:55 (Reply)

G:
Thank you for putting so much thought and effort into that.

#8 Bird Dog on 2009-07-03 05:10 (Reply)

I enjoyed that VDH post especially for two things. First, I don't think the word "hypocrisy" or any of its variants was misspelled even once in the post or comments. Second, one commenter had this terrific quotation from G.K. Chesterton:

"[A] man who refuses to have his own philosophy will not even have the advantages of a brute beast, and be left to his own instincts. He will only have the used-up scraps of somebody else�s philosophy; which the beasts do not have to inherit; hence their happiness. Men have always one of two things: either a complete and conscious philosophy or the unconscious acceptance of the broken bits of some incomplete and shattered and often discredited philosophy.�

#9 Texan99 on 2009-07-03 12:56 (Reply)

I like that quotation. It is why 'moderates' are unthinking. It is fine when action is moderate, but it is lazy when thinking is moderate.
`

#9.1 Meta on 2009-07-03 14:01 (Reply)

Or, as Sarah Palin puts it: "Only dead fish go with the flow."

#9.1.1 Texan99 on 2009-07-04 11:14 (Reply)

Thoughts of Stimulus I and a Stimulus II (for those whiners who didn't get a payoff from Stimulus I) take me back to U S History class and the Tammany Hall Era, the Grant Administration, and other notable eras of corruption in U S government.

Of course, those earlier eras of corruption pale by comparison to what is going on in Washington these days, now super-charged by the Chicago and California Scoundrels, lending the whole scene a pervasive fin-de-siecle feeling as the once mighty American Empire is looted from within by those charged with it�s responsible governance, prosperity, and national security. Grounds for overthrowing the scoundrels.

#10 greenmtnpunter on 2009-07-03 15:31 (Reply)

But if we threw the scoundrels out, what would the OAS and the UN think?

#10.1 Texan99 on 2009-07-04 11:16 (Reply)

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Thursday, July 2. 2009

Hypocrisy and Hypocrisy