Collegiate Times

Hy.poc.ri.sy (n.): See Republican, Democratic Parties.

I?m aware that the dictionary doesn?t actually say that, but it should. Not because all Democrats and Republicans are hypocrites; there are some whose actions actually reflect their words. But many of them (especially the politicians) are hypocritical to a degree far greater than most people know.

Documenting all that hypocrisy is a task for someone who wants to write a very long book. All I have here is a short column. So here?s a few of the most blatant hypocrisies, starting with the Republicans.

Republicans: ?We are the party of small government.? Federal, state and local governments combined confiscate about 40 percent of our national income, on average. Sorry, but not all of that can be blamed on the Democrats.

Since President Bush took office in 2001, Congress has increased federal domestic spending by 33 percent.

That?s domestic spending, not military spending. You know, the kind of spending Republicans are supposed to oppose? And on top of that, our annual budget deficit has reached record highs. You would expect a responsible, fiscally conservative president to use his veto power in an attempt to stop this insanity. Bush hasn?t used his veto power even once.

Rather than getting the welfare state under control, Republicans have actively worked to expand it. They passed the Medicare prescription drug bill back in 2003, which is something straight out of a tax-and-spend liberal?s playbook.

And over the last 10 years, the federal government has increased its spending from about $1.8 trillion per year in 1995 (in 2005 dollars), to a whopping $2.7 trillion per year today. Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress for eight of those 10 years. Enough said.

?We help defend freedom and the American way.?

On the contrary, Republicans have undermined the very individual rights and freedoms that make America great. They are the strongest supporters of the appalling war on drugs, which criminalizes people for simply exercising choice over their own bodies. They are often apologists for the use of torture on detainees who may or may not be innocent. And they defend Bush as he helps trash the Bill of Rights with the Patriot Act. ?We believe in the sanctity of human life.?

I?m sure that the families of the tens of thousands of innocents slaughtered in the Iraq War would beg to differ. Republicans casually dismiss that massive loss of human life as ?collateral damage.? Is that the attitude of people who really believe that the lives of all innocent human beings are sacred? And now for the Democrats.

Democrats: ?We believe in the right to choose.?

I do agree with Democrats that women should have the right to choose when it comes to abortion, at least in the early stages of pregnancy. But that is just one issue amongst thousands involving the right to choose with regards to your own body and your own life. On many of those issues, Democrats go against the right to choose.

For example, what about the right to choose between restaurants that allow smoking and restaurants that do not? Democrats have banned that choice in several states by making smoking illegal in all bars and restaurants. I don?t smoke myself, but it?s none of my business if you want blackened lungs. And it?s none of my business if a restaurant owner wants to allow smoking on his own property. We have a word for when the government decides what you can and can?t do on your own property: fascism. The alternative is a free marketplace based on property rights. When you walk through a restaurant?s doors, you tacitly agree to the owner?s rules. That might mean you?ll breathe in a little second-hand smoke. If you don?t like it, go somewhere else. And if you can?t find a place that caters to non-smokers, start your own restaurant that does. You?ll make a lot of money.

Democratic hypocrisy on this issue is not just limited to smoking bans. What about allowing the unhampered choice to defend yourself with a firearm, knowing that even assuming you could get to a phone to call 911 in an emergency, the police might arrive too late to save you? What about really being able to choose how to plan your own retirement, rather than having the government force you into the Social Security program? And what about the right to choose how to spend the money you earn, rather than having Democrats take it and spend it on unsuccessful attempts to mold society to their liking? ?We are a party of peace.?

Democrats love to claim that they speak for people who oppose aggressive war. That is deceptive. Democrats nominated John Kerry, a man who is every bit as bloodthirsty as Bush is. Kerry wanted to escalate the Iraq War by sending in another 40,000 troops. He did not actually oppose the war at all (remember that he voted for it and did not express regret for that choice). Instead, he merely disagreed with how it was being run. Perhaps he thought that if we could get France and Germany to join in on the bloodshed in a ?multilateral? effort, that would make it okay.

Republican and Democratic hypocrisy is evident almost everywhere you look. Take everything they say with a grain of salt. Only Libertarians are consistently in favor of small government, freedom, peace, life and choice. I challenge the major parties to show otherwise.