Regarding a
recent diary about Republicans defending the adulterous behavior of a certain Republican congressman, Maryscott responded, "IOKIYAR".
"It's OK If You're A Republican."
People often say that to be snarky, but it's also true, and I think it's the key to a major insight about how many Republicans think.
It really
is okay to do that sort of thing if you're a Republican, in a manner of speaking. They really
do hold us to different standards than they do themselves, and hypocrisy really
doesn't matter to them all that much. We can stop at the point where we scoff and roll our eyes at them, but it's important to realize why it's true.
It's because of Original Sin. They believe in defending a basic level of internal corruption. That internal corruption, in their mind, is OK, IF they have God or some important moral code on their side to help cancel it out. If they fail, as they often do, then they forgive themselves, and forgive others (of their kind), because they know they are trying so hard to reconcile their behavior with their moral code. That it's basically a losing battle, but that it's okay if they have Jesus (or a moral code) on their side. It's the trying that is important, not the success.
They aren't as forgiving with us because they see us as not having those moral codes. It's exactly why "moral relativism" is so disgusting to them. We are not with God. They see us as just making up our rules as we go along, a convenient road to ruin. Since they believe everyone is basically corrupt, they see our lack of public moralizing as being evidence of being okay with being corrupt, and thereby having a damaging effect on society.
So how do you fight it effectively, in a way that might reach them, rather than just throwing red meat at ourselves? You don't criticize them for being a hypocrite. That's very much beside the point to them. I think that instead, you expose them as not being sincere or effective in their values. That can seem similar to hypocrisy, but it's very different. Hypocrisy can just be that someone behaves badly while they have honest intent to behave well. But being insincere means that you're actually conning the people who believe in you. That's what Bush and the Republicans actuallly do to their Republican supporters. I think that approach would get more mileage.