Hypocrisy and the GOP

Wiktionary, a web-based dictionary, defines hypocrisy as “The claim, pretense, or false representation of holding beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not actually possess.” The current Republican administration, both national and local, has claimed on more than one occasion that it is the champion of morality and the savior of traditional family values. Under the guise of decency, it has endeavored to impose its own peculiar brand of “righteousness” upon the people they were elected to serve, while at the same time many Republicans were embracing the very evil from which they sought to protect the people. Some committed acts that by their own party’s definition were immoral, while others were guilty of trying to hide those actions from public scrutiny.

Mark Foley, a gay Republican U.S. Representative to Congress and former co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, resigned in September due to allegations that he sent inappropriate e-mails and text messages to a 16 year old page. Other former pages have since come forward with stories of their own and Foley is currently under investigation by the FBI. But just like an onion, there are several layers to this and there is plenty of blame to go around. As far back as 2000, other Republican leaders were made aware of Foley’s conduct, yet made no efforts to investigate to determine neither the validity nor the depths of the accusations. Some right-wing religious fanatics lauded this as “typical behavior of gay men”, yet ironically, Foley says he was molested by a clergyman when he was between the ages of 13 and 15.

Another case in point is that of former Spokane, WA mayor Jim West. A proponent of several anti-gay legislation bills, West admitted in May 2005 that ** “he offered gifts, favors and a City Hall internship during Internet chats with a man he believed was 18.” As a closeted gay legislator, West **“supported a bill that would have barred gays and lesbians from working for schools, day care centers and some state agencies; voted to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; and, as Senate majority leader, allowed a bill that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians to die in committee without a hearing.” Such self-loathing is typical in the Republican Party as most GOP members believe that being gay is immoral and something of which to be ashamed. Acts of pedophilia have not been limited to gay GOP members as Bryan Doyle has proven. Doyle, a Department of Homeland Security official, was arrested in April 2006 and charged with 23 felony counts including using a computer to seduce a child and transmitting pornographic materials from his home in Silver Spring, MD to detectives in Polk County, FL whom Doyle believed to be a 14 year old girl. **(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223201_west06.html)

While sexual misconduct is not exclusive to the Republican Party, the GOP does claim to be the example of the moral “high road” and this is quite evident by their courting of the so-called “religious right” and many of the platforms in the GOP agenda reflect the views and beliefs of mainstream Christian fundamentalists. Those claims of morality are built upon shaky grounds as many religious sects, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, have skeletons of their own they have tried to keep buried. Again, ironically, it is these very same sects that proclaim homosexuality a threat to family values and the institution of marriage while at the same time attempting to cover up their own inability to live by the rules they would force upon others.

Sir Walter Scott once said “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”, and deception comes in many forms. Foley, West and Doyle must certain shoulder the responsibility for the actions in which they engaged, but they are not alone. There were those who knew the truth yet turned a blind eye to their transgressions under the guise of protecting the Republican Party’s image as the “champions of morality”, seeming unaware that the cover-ups themselves are seen as immoral by most Americans. Perhaps it would now be fitting to refer to the GOP as the Grand Old Pretense.