Matthew: This is a very compelling article that I hope gets into a few more places. There's hypocrisy in so many places, and it's hard to just pin this on people with authority and responsibility.
Those of us on the outside of a particular situation may be quick to point out the hypocrisy. But when we do, it should also be noted that decisions still need to be made, and too often, rather quickly. Would we have made a similar decision if given the same circumstances? Or maybe a worse one? How would we have handled all the political pressure to get something done--and appease forces that really don't understand the intricacies of the issue? It is easy to criticize from the outside and from the passage of time. But in the midst of of chaos, it's hard to put all the pieces together in the right way.
I spent six years as an insider of a political party in Canada. I saw the hypocrisy and compromise of principles first hand--just in the internal affairs of the party. I came to the conclusion that the more successful politicians are the ones who know which controversies can be managed and which should be avoided. Had I been given a higher position in the Party, I too would have been faced with making hypocritical decisions.
If nothing else, Mr. Trump seems reasonably competent at making certain things "not stick."
I am really trying not to read and respond to articles like yours. I want my Medium time to go in a different direction and put more time into writing my new book. So congrats of diverting my attention where I'm not likely to get tangible results.
But to get to my point: as long as we insist on being governed by political parties, we should expect hypocrisy in government. Writing more articles on Medium are not likely help that much.
If you really don't like hypocrisy, we need a new model of governance.
