RiverDog wrote:I understand that both parties are hypocritical. But we as good citizens should be calling them out when they do it. They are our leaders, and as all good leaders do, they should be setting an example for others by practicing consistency. It's not good enough for us to say that since the Democrats would have done the same thing so that makes it OK for the Republicans to do. Two wrongs don't make a right. It was either wrong to hold up the Garland appointment or wrong to advance the Barrett appointment. Personally, I don't have a problem with an appointment during an election year as it's happened on multiple occasions and felt that holding up the Garland appointment was wrong.
The other problem I worry about is that these behaviors encourage a tit-for-tat response. Harry Reid allows for simple majority approval for federal judicial appointments then the R's extend it to SCOTUS appointments. Trump diverts DOD money for an "emergency" a the southern border and next thing you know, the Dems will be using the same rationale to address climate change. They are bastardizing what used to be an unwritten set of rules, looking for any loop hole they can to advance their agenda.
As far as whether or not something that the government does is "OK" or not. That is definitely subjective and hard to define. For instance based on your above examples in which you say that both can't be 'OK." They actually are both 'OK' in some sense and not 'OK' in some sense. When I say that I am 'OK' with both I'm speaking to the idea that I can be 'OK' with something but not agree with it. In this particular case I am 'OK' with both of those situations because they are an outcome from the checks and balances in regards to confirming a SCOTUS nomination. I may not like what each party did but I am OK with it because not having that ability would give way too much power to one person in our government. I don't mind calling out hypocrisy but it should be done with an understanding that both parties are hypocritical. In today's America both sides seem to be able to quickly point out the hypocrisy of the opposite party but refuse to note the same hypocrisy in their own party.
I agree about the tit-for-tat response, it is scary and dangerous and Trump has certainly flirted with this and angered Dem's to the point that they are threatening to pull out all of the stops, including packing the SCOTUS. It is also why I am much more comfortable with a split government and I feel like the separation of powers, even when they aren't used in the exact intended way, are so important. I don't think that any of this is ideal, but I don't think there is an ideal way to govern 350 million people who come from as diverse a background as Americans do, especially when that population is basically split right down the middle of two political parties.
