With this year性视界传媒檚 presidential election fast approaching, a core feature of American politics has come into focus: Both political parties are throbbing with tribal-driven flip-flops and contradictory zigzags. Lacking coherent intellectual underpinnings, Democrats and Republicans lurch from one position to a contradictory one with stunning regularity.
It性视界传媒檚 been this way for decades.
Let性视界传媒檚 start with the Democrats. They demonized Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump for attacking the press. Yet they gave President Barack Obama a pass while his Department of Justice set records for prosecuting reporters.
They accused Bush of illicitly expanding executive power during his 性视界传媒渨ar on terror.性视界传媒 Yet they looked the other way when Obama aggressively used executive power to address immigration.
They said Trump turned the presidency into a fascist dictatorship (quite an accomplishment if true), while also maintaining that Trump was too stupid to get anything done.
They said major social justice protests during the COVID-19 pandemic were necessary and important, but 性视界传媒 at the same time 性视界传媒 that Republican political rallies were reckless and dangerous.
They said gay marriage is a fundamental, non-negotiable right. Then they negotiated with themselves and gave President Joe Biden a pass for voting against legalizing gay marriage in 1996. They said a man性视界传媒檚 inappropriate interactions with a woman can never be tolerated. Then they tolerated Biden性视界传媒檚 inappropriate interactions with women when they became public.
The list goes on. And on. And on.
Republicans are worse. They fiercely opposed the individual mandate in Obama性视界传媒檚 2010 health-care plan. But this was a conservative innovation championed by Republican Gov. (and 2012 GOP presidential nominee) Mitt Romney.
They stood proud as the self-proclaimed party of unwavering virtue and decency, especially after Bill Clinton性视界传媒檚 impeachment stemming from his affair with a White House intern. But Trump 性视界传媒 the least virtuous and least decent president in American history 性视界传媒 became their champion.
They were fiercely anti-Russian, Cold War warriors when Obama was president (Romney in 2012: 性视界传媒淩ussia is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe性视界传媒), but when Trump came along saying nice things about Vladimir Putin, Russia wasn性视界传媒檛 so bad after all.
They were staunchly pro-free trade for decades, including when Obama was president. Then when Trump aggressively used tariffs they switched sides.
And on. And on. And on.
Lots of political inconsistency goes both ways. The opposition party in Congress often threatens government shutdowns to get their way. And the party in power is always aghast that their opponents would stoop so low. When your guy is in office, Congress should only impeach a president for the most serious offenses. When the other guy is the accused, however, the standard plummets into a highly elastic 性视界传媒減olitical question性视界传媒 reserved for Congress性视界传媒 whims.
When lunatics from your side commit violent crimes in the name of politics, they are isolated whackos. If they are politically on the other side, though, there性视界传媒檚 a direct causal link: The violence was an inevitable consequence of the opposing party性视界传媒檚 nefarious platform and irresponsible leadership.
Some inconsistency is myopically results-driven. The flip-flop of Republican senators from Merrick Garland (no election-year Supreme Court confirmations) to Amy Coney Barrett (ram the nomination through weeks before the election) got them an extra justice.
Some of it is rank partisanship. Democrats turn a blind eye to Biden性视界传媒檚 obvious declining capacities after spending four years claiming Trump性视界传媒檚 incompetence threatened the Republic.
And some inconsistency goes fundamentally against the supposed core ideology of the party itself. The dramatic increase in federal spending under Trump and the Republicans was jaw-dropping 性视界传媒 even by today性视界传媒檚 low standards 性视界传媒 after Republicans spent eight years righteously opposing Obama性视界传媒檚 budgets in the name of Republican-style fiscal discipline.
The common thread tying together this bipartisan web of contradiction is a feverish and exclusive focus on short-term political objectives. Cast aside in the tumult is not just any pretense of consistency, but respect for and adherence to the essential principles and traditions that have made America work since its founding.
