The moral hypocrisy of conservative leaders is stunning
Opinion by Michael Gerson
“It was stolen,” said conservative luminary William Bennett on a recent podcast. “The election was stolen.”
In a Dec. 10 open letter, a group of conservative stalwarts — including activist Gary Bauer, former senator and former president of the Heritage Foundation James DeMint, and head of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins — alleged that “President Donald J. Trump is the lawful winner of the presidential election.” They called on state legislators in battleground states to “appoint clean slates of electors to the Electoral College to support President Trump” and urged the House and Senate to reject competing slates reflecting the actual vote.
For some of us, watching prominent conservatives turn against rationality and democracy is not just disappointing; it is disorienting.
As a youth in the 1980s and 1990s, I could not accept the hardest-edged versions of the conservative tradition. Yet when leaders such as Bauer, DeMint and Perkins claimed to believe in ordered liberty, protected by democracy and the rule of law, I did not doubt them. I thought, by their own lights, they were people of conviction. And this was particularly true of Bennett, whom I viewed with awe. No one, I felt, better combined conservative reasoning with humane learning.
Much of what I believed is now suspect. Ideological stars that once seemed fixed to me have shifted, leaving an unfamiliar sky.
The intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning. People who claimed to favor limited government now applaud Trump’s use of the executive branch to undermine an election. A similar attempt by Barack Obama would have brought comparisons to Fidel Castro. People who talked endlessly about respecting the Constitution affirm absurd slanders against the constitutional order. People who claimed to be patriots now spread false claims about their country’s fundamental corruption. People who talked of honoring the rule of law now jerk and gyrate according to the whims of a lawless leader.
These conservative leaders no longer deserve the assumption of sincerity. They are spreading conspiratorial lies so unlikely and irrational, they must know them to be lies. But their motive remains a matter of debate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-moral-hypocrisy-of-conservative-leaders-is-stunning/2020/12/14/35e62f16-3e2d-11eb-8bc0-ae155bee4aff_story.html
Sounds as if Gerson has seen the light.
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