‘Principle’ has been perverted

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The perversion of a concept long thought to be sacrosanct is disturbing to me in the extreme.

The concept is “principle.” The perversion occurs politically, when politicians say one thing and then act in a fashion that bears no resemblance to the principle they purport to follow.

We are watching this play out on Capitol Hill. Republicans in both the Senate and the House say they stand on certain principles. They in fact stand on a cultish loyalty to one of their own, the former president of the United States. It sickens me greatly.

Two examples come to mind; they relate to 1/6.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell told the world that Donald Trump “provoked” the riot that damn near overran Capitol Hill as terrorists sought to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College tally that resulted in the election of President Biden. He spoke angrily of the former president’s role in that provocation. He laid it all on the former POTUS’s lap. He was responsible solely for the riot.

Ditto for House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who reportedly implored the then-POTUS to stop the riot. He told POTUS 45 that people’s lives were endangered. He pleaded with him to call a halt to it. POTUS’s response: “I guess they care more about the election results than you do, Kevin.”

But what in the name of sanity happened after that? The principles on which these two men stood crumbled under their feet.

They both voted against impeaching the president and then against convicting him in the Senate trial that followed the second impeachment of his term in office. How in the world does a politician excoriate another pol for an obvious breach of faith and then stand behind that individual as if nothing ever happened in the first place to draw his ire?

Where I come from, I would define that as hypocrisy in the extreme.

And yet it infects the political process to a degree that I fear the poison will become endemic to our system of government.

It needs to be purged.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

4 thoughts on “‘Principle’ has been perverted”

  1. So, hypocrisy is now only for one party! Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler, “the squad” is about as hypocritical as you can get. Biden is extremely hypocritical. I’m glad your loyal and one of the 37% that think he’s doing a great job. LOL

    1. I find it interesting that the only rebuttal you have is to attack the Democrats in vague generalities. You have no defense for your parties hypocrisy so you throw rocks and call names. It is hard to defend the indefensible isn’t it? I t must be because you didn’t even try.

      1. LOL! You are correct. There are generalities. The hypocrisy, just like bias, is by everyone on both sides. Each and everyone one of us could list what each side has done that’s been hypocritical.

        Read John’s article on bias and insert hypocrisy in place of bias and it’s very fitting.

    2. Dems didn’t condemn, and then turn around and support the guy responsible for setting up an attack by vicious domestic terrorists on the Capitol to try and overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election. That was specifically all the former guy and his followers.

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