Ted Haggard Shows the Virtue of Hypocrisy

Democrats talk about hypocrisy as if it is a bad thing. They think that by proving Republicans are hypocrites, they will win the election. And so they have embarked on a campaign to out gay members of Congress who oppose gay rights and gay marriage. They revealed that Mark Foley, who wrote a bill outlawing the solicitation of minors on the Internet, was actually soliciting minors on the Internet himself. And now it turns out that the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals and an advisor to President Bush, Ted Haggard--who preached that homosexuality is condemned by the Bible--was actually having methamphetamine-fueled sex with a gay prostitute. But does any of this really matter? Liberals seem to think it is important for preachers to practice what they preach, but I think they are just trying to distract us by making us pay attention to the man behind the curtain instead of the important things he is saying.

Conservatives set very high moral standards for others, which they are not always able to meet themselves. When they invariably fall short, liberals call them hypocrites. Liberals set very low moral standards and believe that when they uphold them, they should be congratulated for that. Neoconservative commentator and former Special Assistant to President Bush David Frum, one of the early cheerleaders for the War in Iraq, recently provided an excellent example of the difference between the moral values of conservatives and liberals: "Consider the hypothetical case of two men. Both are inclined toward homosexuality. Both from time to time hire the services of male prostitutes. Both have occasionally succumbed to drug abuse. One of them marries, raises a family, preaches Christian principles, and tries generally to encourage people to lead stable lives. The other publicly reveals his homosexuality, vilifies traditional moral principles, and urges the legalization of drugs and prostitution. Which man is leading the more moral life? It seems to me that the answer is the first one." In other words, isn't Don Sherwood, who reportedly tried to strangle his mistress but has a perfect voting record according to the Christian Coalition, morally superior to Democrats who believe there is nothing wrong with strangling your mistress? "Instead of regarding hypocrisy as the ultimate sin, could it not be regarded as a kind of virtue--or at least as a mitigation of his offense?" Frum says, referring to Haggard.

Where did this strange idea that hypocrisy is not a moral virtue come from? According to Glenn Reynolds the "moral relativists" are to blame, which he illustrates by quoting this passage from science fiction writer Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: "You know, when I was a young man, hypocrisy was deemed the worst of vices," Finkle-McGraw said. "It was all because of moral relativism. You see, in that sort of a climate, you are not allowed to criticize others -- after all, if there is no absolute right and wrong, then what grounds is there for criticism? Now, this led to a good deal of general frustration, for people are naturally censorious and love nothing better than to criticize others' shortcomings. And so it was that they seized on hypocrisy and elevated it from a ubiquitous peccadillo into the monarch of all vices. For, you see, even if there is no right and wrong, you can find grounds to criticize another person by contrasting what he has espoused with what he has actually done. In this case, you are not making any judgment whatsoever of his behavior -- you are merely pointing out that he has said one thing and done another. Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy."

Hypocrisy is a traditional American value, which is why liberals are opposed to it. Although my father smoked and drank, he always made it clear that smoking and drinking were wrong and that he had higher standards for me. I can still feel the sting of his slap when I pointed out that he smoked after he caught me with a cigarette. I have passed on these very same values to my own children. When my kids catch me sneaking a cigarette or smell alcohol on my breath, I repeat the words my father said to me, which his father said to him, "Do what Daddy says, not what Daddy does." And someday my children will instill these same values in their children.

Liberals believe that we should lower our ideals and standards since it's almost impossible to live up to them. They don't believe that people should get credit for trying and they refuse to acknowledge how difficult it is for a gay anti-gay members of Congress or the clergy to resist temptation. "Christians constantly are being watched, and rightly so," says La Shawn Barber. "Any little thing we do that appears hypocritical, unbelievers jump on it." There are bound to be many who fail to uphold the high standards they set because, as La Shawn so eloquently puts it, "We are all perverts."

As difficult as it is for most Christians to live up to the values they want to impose on others, it is even more difficult for church leaders and members of Congress who are subject to greater temptations than the rest of us as Pastor Mark Driscoll points out. Driscoll apparently has scores of worshippers throwing themselves at him and he has had to hire two "heterosexual male assistants" to ward them off. One of the reasons many preachers give in to temptation, which he has so far valiantly resisted, is because "it is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness." Pastors like Driscoll who constantly have women slipping their phone numbers in his shirt pocket and sending him topless pictures of themselves, really need to be vigilant in making sure their wives don't let themselves go. If Mrs. Haggard had followed her husband's Jerusalem Diet, he might not be in the mess he is in now.

Liberals think that America should let itself go and not continue to espouse the ideals it professes just because we don't live up to them. America has become a beacon to the rest of the world by preaching the values of freedom and democracy and trying to spread these values to the rest of the world--by force if necessary. But that doesn't mean we are always able to uphold these values ourselves. In fact, we have had to curtail some of these freedoms to fight the terrorists. And sometimes in order to spread the values of freedom and democracy we have to support oppressive regimes. But even if we don't always live up to the values we espouse, most people around the world appreciate that we at least have ideals and would hate for us to abandon them.

When Americans go into the voting booth they will have an important choice to make between Republicans who don't live up to the values they espouse and Democrats who barely have any values at all. I think most Americans will agree Republicans have proven that they are the most hypocritical party and this is why they deserve to win.

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Jon Swift, Mark Foley, Democrat, Republican, Don Sherwood, Ted Haggard, Glenn Reynolds, La Shawn Barber, Neal Stephenson, Mark Driscoll, Congress, Senate, Politics, War on Terror, Iraq, Gay, Homosexuality, Christianity, Hypocrisy
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