Thoughts on hypocrisy and Congress

When I checked Facebook today, I noticed an advertisement whose headline read, “Repeal THEIR health care!” sponsored by Credo Action. When I checked, Credo Action seems to be a fairly liberal group and the gist of this petition is that the top Republican Senate and Congressional are hypocrites to want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obama Care. As is usually the case these days, in what I see as a deterioration of our ability to effectively communicate, I’m not sure the author truly understands the definition of hypocrisy. Mind you, I would generally agree that most politicians, Democrat or Republican, are hypocritical most of the time, but not in this case. The argument the Republicans are making is that the majority of Americans, depending on how the question is worded (a whole other communication blog!), seem to want the bill repealed and the recent mid-term elections seem to reflect this. Therefore, voting the way their constituents demand while keeping their own government health care is not hypocritical. Unfortunately, and I say this a long term registered Democrat, the name of the bill is definitely hypocritical, even if the intentions were honorable. Further, if Congress’ health care is so great, why can’t we, the voters, receive the exact same deal? Why did the Democrats have to gin up something different? Why reinvent the wheel? Just extent Congress’ health care to the rest of us. As long as I am beating up on my fellow Democrats, Speaker Pelosi’s statement about running the most ethical congress in history and then letting Representative Rangel skate for so long and President’s Obama’s statements regarding transparency and inclusion are more hypocritical than the Republicans wanting to repeal the bill, but keep their own health care. I would term this action more unethical than hypocritical and it pains me to this day that it was Newt Gingrich and his ilk, rather than the decades of Democratic congressional session prior to his becoming the speaker, that actually introduced a bill forbidding Congress from passing a law and exempting itself from having to follow what they were forcing the public to do. Talk about hypocritical! Finally, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, better known as Card Check, is absolutely hypocritical. Whenever we hear the words “free and fair elections,” secret ballots come to mind. Besides the name being patently false, the hypocrisy comes in because the internal union elections are still by secret ballot. While I have mainly detailed current bills introduced by Democrats, I know that this problem is rampant across party lines; these are simply the latest, and therefore, those example that quickly come to mind. How about both sides stop with spinning words and facts and pledge to be up front, honest, and forthright?