By Ben Di guglielmo, Editor.
SHOCKING: Yes your politician is a hypocrite, no this isn’t news, stop giving them power.
Flash back to 2016, it’s a presidential election year and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has recently passed away. President Obama nominates Judge Merrick Garland to replace him, the Republican controlled senate refuses to vote. Accusations of impropriety come pouring from both parties as if their respective political rival had committed a crime against humanity itself. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) declares, “The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide.” and Senate Minority Whip, Dick Durbin (D), proclaims: “The president has fulfilled his constitutional responsibility and now the U.S. Senate must do the same. No Senate has ever denied a hearing to a presidential nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.” The senate is aflame, tensions increase as each of the oh-so-principled politicians stick by their oh-so-principled positions. The Republican Senate Majority refuses to confirm Merrick Garland, and Obama’s term of office comes to a close.
Return to the present, September of 2020, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. The senate is once again aflame, the politicians have traded their old oh-so-principled position for a stance that’s more “politically suitable” for the current situation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) declares that, “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” and Senate Minority Whip, Dick Durbin, states: “considering a nominee before the next inauguration would be wholly inappropriate.” Notice the difference?
It’s not exactly news to the American people that the constituents of our congressional assembly are neither principled nor trustworthy. In an amazing display of political acrobatics, nearly every single senator has performed a perfect positional “flip flop” on the stance they took in 2016. Some will argue that the situation is different because of this reason or that reason, but the reality is that the only important difference between these scenarios is the presence of a unified federal government. In 2016 it was beneficial for Republicans to oppose the nomination and for Democrats to support it, now that the roles have reversed, the positions have followed.
The chronic congressional hypocrisy that plagues our legislature is a direct result of the two-party duopoly on government. Some will argue that one side is actually principled and the other side is not, some will quote the hypocrisies of their opposing party while failing to mention the same hypocrisy within their own. But it should by now be apparent to all Americans that the struggle between the parties means very little in the big picture, arguing over which corrupt and power hungry political conglomerate deserves to dictate American life is a pointless endeavor when the real loser of every single election is the American people.
The political parties have for years offered unpopular politicians and panicked the people into voting for the “lesser of two evils”, and for years the American people have grown increasingly dissatisfied with their representation in both Congress and the Executive Office. As long as this cycle continues, the political duopoly will maintain a firm grasp on the entire theatre of governmental policy in America. Perhaps the question the American people should ask themselves isn’t “which of the two choices should I pick?”, maybe it’s about time that we asked ourselves “why do I only have two choices?”.