Choosing evil

Yesterday my governor appointed Paul Kirk as an interim senator to fill Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat.  So that Massachusetts would have complete voting power in the healthcare debate.  I’m not going to deny it.  I’m glad.  I’m glad that Kennedy still has a voice on an issue that meant so very much to him.  I’m glad that it is someone who worked so closely and tirelessly with the former senator.  I’m glad that it strengthens the fight for universal healthcare.

I’m glad, but it doesn’t mean I don’t wince at the hypocrisy.  The wincing doesn’t mean I don’t like it.  I honestly didn’t really pay attention when our state government passed the bill denying Romney the ability to fill Kerry’s seat if he was elected president.  I may have known about it, but I thought Romney was self important whanker, so anything that took away his power was cool by me.  Yeah, that’s a classy statement on the opposition.  But he was and is an ass.  I also think the state is an ass for bending the rules to suit their beliefs.

I’m not going to deny selective tolerance here.  But I am a Democrat, a crazy liberal.  I live in a state that, like it or leave it, is predominantly Democratic.  I don’t think it is a misrepresentation of many that we wouldn’t want a Republican senator.  So, I don’t think it is a misrepresentation of many if our elected officials do what they can to keep that from happening.  But I really… can’t speak for many.  I can only speak for myself.  I am very glad Mitt Romney had no opportunity to represent me in Washington with his conservative cronies.

Yes.  That is hypocritical.  Yes, I confess it.  Yes, it makes me squirm.  Because integrity has become increasingly important to me.  But the more I try to direct my life towards integrity, the more I realize it is a journey full of falls and wrong turns.  The key is to recognize a mistake and learn from it.  And not repeat it ever again.

Except… ha, ha.  This is politics.  Hypocrisy is embedded in the practice.  So what happened on Beacon Hill these past couple of weeks really… isn’t a first time.   It won’t be a last time.  And if you are thinking it is distinct to Massachusetts and whiny liberals, get a clue.

The thing that made integrity important to me in the last fifteen months was the observation that people who point fingers at others’ faults are often deflecting their own culpability of those same mistakes.  What’s that cliché?  Point one finger at someone and you point three at yourself?  So, Fox Noise enthusiasts, let’s consider the finger pointing of hypocrisy.

The Republican party loves to tout family values and the sanctity of marriage.  Um… how many sex scandals in the last year have involved some conservative going off to a foreign country with his mistress or being discovered in a bathroom stall soliciting sex from a male prostitute?  Or consider the fact that for the bulk of the Bush presidency it was rendered unpatriotic and a support of our enemy to criticize the commander in chief?  War protestors were labeled maniacs and stupid.  Who is marching on Washington now, disrespecting the president before he has had a year in office?  And now it’s patriotic and evidence of the Constitution at work.  Um, yeah, no.  Can’t have it both ways. 

Look, at the end of the day – or at the end of this blog – I’m going to agree with you that the state congress/senate was wrong to play this political game.   It’s not cool.  But I also don’t think it’s very cool that the health insurance companies are buying their way into legislation and Constitutional rights.  Unfortunately this is a decision of the lesser of two evils.  And I go with the evil that will save a life and not just a billion dollar profit.