Mark Sanford and Bobby Jindal, the governors of South Carolina and Louisiana, respectively, are getting a lot of attention in the national media because of their views on stimulus spending. They say that certain provisions of the stimulus bill would not benefit their state and so are declining it. Well, they’re declining the parts that wouldn’t help them politically…
Bobby Jindal: Smirking His Way To Top Of Republican Party
Louisiana is set to get 3.8 billion dollars from the Stimulus Bill, but Jindal says that he doesn’t want some of it because it would force reforms on unemployment policies in the state. That’s fine. After all, upon the formation of the United States, the idea that States would possess all powers not specifically granted to the federal government was made pretty clear. If Louisiana doesn’t want the money, then give it to me. I promise to help bolster the economic condition of Bourbon Street (Disclosure: Bourbon Street is my nickname for local liquor stores).
But wait, Republican governors say they will take money related to school construction, road repair, public works, etc. So, the rallying cry of the Right is “We will stand by our principles, with the exclusion of those principles that may cost us re-election.”
"Did you take the picture? Good. I'm gonna go on Meet The Press and then cover the governor's mansion in gold and hookers." - Mark Sanford (quote needs attribution)
At first this hypocrisy bothered me. How dare they say one thing and do another? Especially considering the dire straits this country finds itself in. But then I realized how important hypocrisy is to the American political process. Constitutional scholars may argue that the balance of powers in this country is done by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government, but I think that it is hypocrisy that truly keeps things in line. How can a politician rouse public support for an unethical program if the people realize that he’s full of it? Laws and the Constitution can be flouted, but the American people’s bullshit detector is unfailing.
This hypocritical form of democracy should be spread all over the world. Things would end up being a lot safer. Just think of it, if Osama Bin Laden had done billboard advertisements for McDonald’s, then he would have a much tougher time to recruiting fellow extremists. Its hard to take somebody’s rhetoric seriously if you drive by their burger-filled face every morning on the freeway.
In closing, I would like to call on the American people to celebrate the death of hypocrisy and to go spit on its grave (more commonly known as the Capitol Building, Washington D.C.).