Hypocrites!

The Right's Umbrage du Jour is the claim that the Left is carrying out a War on Women, insulting right wing women in the public sphere and demeaning housewives, meanwhile acting as if it's wrong to demean and insult women.

Suppose this were all true of all liberals. Does that, then, wipe away the charges Democrats have made about the Republicans' "War on Women?" It's OK for Republicans to treat women patronizingly as long as Democrats do too?

Really?

Since when was Republican morality just a reaction to Democratic morality?

"They do it too" is the kind of argument I'd expect from an angry sixth grader. What you do is either right or wrong according to principles and practical considerations. Not some moral relativism that constantly refers to whatever is the behavior of others.

So whether liberals are hypocrites or not has no bearing on whether Republican ranks house the last bastion of male chauvinism in America. My crimes don't excuse your crimes.

And the Republicans are the ones most outraged by moral relativism. Except their own.

The most forbidden word in politics: triage

Beyond political correctness, beyond sacred cows, there's triage. That's what they do in a battlefield hospital when they get more people than they can treat. So they figure out who's a lost cause and just give them painkillers--palliative care--while they work on the ones they can actually save.

But Democrats believe--as an article of faith not subject to discussion--that we can and must save everyone who happens to be within our borders, and, if possible, everyone else on
Earth as well.

And Republicans believe--equally as an article of faith not subject to discussion--that principles are sacrosanct, and we must adhere to them, regardless of consequence.

Thus Democrats won't let teachers expel "students of color" even if they've got fetal alcohol syndrome (which is untreatable) and are preventing any other students--of color or not--from learning anything in a classroom where they're disruptively present.

And thus Republicans won't vote to legalize Marijuana because it's WRONG--even if it can be proven that doing so would benefit society overall, and even if keeping it illegal while having alcohol legal is and is perceived by marijuana users as total hypocrisy, thus reducing people's respect for our laws and law enforcement people.

Thus both sides reject anything that smacks of triage out of hand. Neither wants to deal with the world as it actually is.

And the social cost of this idea-lism is enormous from both sides.