20 Examples of Government Hypocrisy to Make You Angry

Agreement is anathema in Washington except for one thing: the acceptance of government hypocrisy. Bills, policies, programs, and agencies conflict with competing and often pointless goals that cost us money and ensure our taxes go to waste.

Here are 20 examples of government hypocrisy that will help you hate the way Washington does business. Of course, if you are reading this you probably already do.

Government hypocrisy 20 ways:

#1: Both parties agree we are still recovering from one of the worst recessions in decades, our debt is soaring, and we continue to spend billions on people and countries that hate us.

#2: Government spending on the recovery didn’t fix the economy, so Democrats want to spend more.

#3: Obamacare is stalled, but Democrats insist on pushing it forward as written and Republicans want to repeal it without an alternative bill.

#4: Congress throws equality and fairness in our faces at every opportunity while its members anticipate a new Office of Personnel Management rule to give them a pass on participating in Obamacare.

#5: We are about to face a new debt ceiling crisis and the White House will ask for more spending money to fix it.

#6: Our government is supposed to be more transparent than ever (see: The Hoax Behind Our Big, Accountable Government). Transparency shows us just how wasteful and scandal-ridden Washington is.

#7: Homeland Security claims the border is safer than ever, but the focus of bipartisan support for an immigration bill is making the border safe.

#8:  There is bipartisan support for nation-building in the Middle East despite all evidence that Islamic democracy and the Arab spring are Washington pipe dreams.

#9: White House policymakers and the Department of Education are wringing their hands over education costs while they empower unions and argue for raising teacher salaries that make public education costs go up.

#10: Prosperity is a good thing, but Democrats keep promising handouts and government-sponsored financial security that help make Americans lazy and dependent on the government.

#11: America’s credit was downgraded in 2011 not because of the debt, but because our two political parties couldn’t agree on how to spend lots of money and reduce the debt at the same time.

#12: We have bipartisan support for Democrats and Republicans working together. To accomplish that goal both parties indulge in finger-pointing and blame that makes bipartisanship impossible.

#13: Republicans, Democrats, and the White House publicly agreed on the importance of helping the middle class, then raised their taxes in January 2013.

#14: We ascribe characteristics to Muslims in America that we don’t see anywhere else, but we keep calling Islam a great world religion.

#15: Both parties agree that unemployment is a bad thing and the recession makes it difficult to find a job, but every time an extension of unemployment benefits comes up they find excuses to block it (see: Why Do Republicans Want to Be America’s Enemies?).

#16: Democrats and the president blame the wealthy for stealing opportunity from the middle class but most are wealthy in their own right, enjoy excessive perks at taxpayer expense, and helped craft the tax code that they are so eager to blame.

#17: Washington helped taxpayers bail out the banks. The banks are doing better. Taxpayers aren’t doing so well.

#18: The White House admits the jobs numbers could be better, so we pass policies like DACA to create more competition for jobs.

#19: Congress creates problems with no intention of fixing them because members know there is little PR juice to be had from crises that go away.

#20: Big government hypocrisy, conflict, and gridlock keep Washington running. Just think how little government we would need if politicians focused more on getting the job done and less on keeping themselves in the spotlight.

Keep reading: more government hypocrisy to further infuriate you

UPDATE April 14, 2017: let’s make it 21

#21: The ultimate hypocrisy: demanding federal money for a problem you created and refuse to fix.

33 House members sent a letter to President Trump asking that funding be restored to programs including the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). They claimed that:

Communities rely on these funding streams to enhance public safety, fund crime victim and witness initiatives, support drug treatment and enforcement, promote economic development and more.¹

They also asked that the president not pull funding from sanctuary cities, which wouldn’t need programs like SCAAP if they didn’t harbor so many illegals.

UPDATE August 18, 2017: why stop now? #22 and counting …

After years of telling us that millionaires and billionaires are the cause of all America’s woes and slamming Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner because of his wealth, Democrats in ruined, violent Cook County chose uber-wealthy J.B. Pritzker as their man for next year’s gubernatorial election. He’s male, white, and rich, traits despised by contemporary Democratic Party values.

UPATE April 30, 2018: #23 asylum seekers take the cake

We have an immigration problem. Year after year we spend too many tax dollars trying to control the consequences, but when a large enough group comes to the border demanding entrance we take their requests for asylum seriously instead of simply telling them to go home.

Am I the only one who thinks this sets a bad precedent?

#24: women only support women with the same political beliefs

Sarah Sanders sat at the Correspondent’s Dinner last Saturday night and took it. I give her credit for that. As the smile froze on her face was she thinking about the hypocrisy of a woman stabbing another successful woman in the back and calling her a liar in a very public forum while the Me Too movement preaches unity and support?

UPDATE November 11, 2018

#25: don’t control illegals, control Americans with guns

Thanks to a new Democratic House gun control will be in when Democrats take over in January 2019. Illegal immigrant control will be out. Murders committed by illegals let loose because of sanctuary policies and lax enforcement will keep happening while Congress ties itself up in knots over a fool’s errand: how do we keep guns out of the hands of U.S. citizens who have the right to own them?

I’ve never owned a gun. Never had a reason or desire to. That doesn’t mean I can’t spot hypocrisy over gun control.

Declined detainer and three more murders

Last week ICE reported three more murders committed in Missouri by an illegal immigrant released in New Jersey because local authorities refused to honor an ICE detainer. This is a completely avoidable crime. The man was in custody. We let him go. Three more people are dead.

When Democrats take over in January gun control will undoubtedly be a priority. Controlling criminal illegal immigrants will not. We should expect the opposite to be true as the left assures us that illegals don’t commit crimes.

This raises a question: are deaths committed by Americans with guns a more serious offense than deaths committed by illegal immigrants?

UPDATE June 11, 2019

#26: Illinois’ special new Green Deal

Sometimes even Democrats realize when their tax and spend obsessions go too far. That’s what happened in Illinois when the rumored new $1,000 registration charge for green, electric vehicles suddenly dropped by $752.00.

That’s a pretty big concession for this state. If we had time to work the numbers it might even be historic.

Green-obsessed drivers can take some comfort in the nearly 50% jump in the registration fee for gas vehicles and the punishing doubling of the gas tax to $0.38/gallon. Still, if I shelled out for a fancy new electric ride because the end of the world is at hand I’d be mighty pissed off at being punished for trying to save the earth.

Don’t Democrats want us to Go Green? Yes they do, but there are limits and they are all about money. It might have been more palatable to environmentally-savvy drivers to slap an “electric responsibility tax” or something equally nonsensical on charging stations so the state gets its cut of what it’s losing on the gasoline levy. They could also take a cue from Governor Pritzker and slap a mileage tax on everyone, but that would be regressive and punish green drivers and polluters alike.

Of course, regressive also has a different meaning for Democrats in Illinois. That’s another hypocrisy this working-class and tax and fee friendly liberal state seems completely oblivious too. At least the electric vehicle hike only whacks those with incomes high enough to make saving the world affordable.

UPDATE July 6, 2019:

#27: gerrymandering is wrong but we should use illegals for redistricting

The hypocrisy behind Democratic opposition to the SCOTUS gerrymandering decision is astounding.

Bombastic Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen set us straight on what it means for our democracy:

The Supreme Court today ruled there was nothing it could do to stop partisan gerrymandering. This practice, politicians picking their voters and drawing lines to reinforce their own power, is anti-democratic and despicable.²

At the same time Democrats vehemently oppose the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census because it impacts representation and the flow of federal dollars.

Presidential candidate and Minnesota Rep. Amy Klobuchar took a decidedly anti-democratic position on the issue:

The census is part of our country’s constitutional obligation to count everyone and serves as a guide for critical decisions like the distribution of community resources and the apportionment of congressional districts.³

Rep. Klobuchar is exactly right about what the Census headcount accomplishes and that’s why illegals must be excluded. They can’t vote. The only reason they haven’t been deported is that there are too many and Democrats obstruct every effort to enforce our immigration laws.

Why on earth would we include individuals on the Census who could be back in their home country before the final tally is even counted? Because Democrats in states like California will benefit while taxpayers who foot the tab will lose.

UPDATE August 31, 2019:

#28: a good economy can’t be bad

What’s the biggest tragedy Democrats could face in 2020? A Republican resurgence? A no-nukes deal with North Korea? More Hillaryesque revelations about whatever lefty hack they nominate to ruin this country?

Nope. None of the above.

The biggest catastrophe for 2020 will be not having a recession. The media has been pushing. Politicians have been warning. The public is nervous. Another Great Recession is just a hair’s breath away.

Articles on how to recession-proof your portfolio are already popping up. Everyone with an opinion who is not a conservative tells us the bottom is about to fall out. If it doesn’t, the media will get behind the Democratic Party per protocol and create a recession.

Will we be dumb enough to believe it and do all the stupid things that go along with a real downturn to help seal the deal, like selling our portfolios?

Probably, or at least those of us who are also dumb enough to vote for Democrats begging for economic destruction.

UPDATE October 6, 2019:

#29: confusing impeachment and democracy

This kind of misleading nonsense from Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) is what House Democrats expect the people to believe while they try to circumvent the outcome of our last presidential election:

President Trump’s actions represent the highest type of crimes that threaten the very fabric of our democracy. While the House Committees have been relentlessly conducting oversight hearings and investigations into this Administration’s corruption, it is clear that an official impeachment investigation is the only avenue we have left to hold this President accountable.⁴

At least the last comment is true. Impeachment is the only avenue Democrats have left. They will do anything, including lying to the people in the name of democracy, to make it happen.

Trump has not been formally accused of a crime. Even Democrats admit they are only holding an inquiry. Unfortunately for our democracy, politicians can say anything they want with absolutely no accountability knowing that those they represent will believe what they want to hear.

Democracy is about democratic processes, including an election which the Democratic Party refuses to honor. They know they aren’t going to get rid of the Electoral College and even if they do, it won’t change the fact that Trump is president.

The only option left is the most un-democratic process we have: discard the people’s decision with a trumped-up case for impeachment based on “the highest type of crimes” they are still trying to make a case for.

Our democratic system allows Democrats to do this, but don’t tell us impeachment is in the name of protecting democracy. It’s in the name of putting Democrats back in power by telling the American people their vote doesn’t count.

UPDATE October 10, 2019:

#30: Corporate profits vs. rising congressional pay

Senators and Representatives make $174,000 per year. That’s not a lot of money, but America’s median household income of $61,937 pales in comparison to what we pay these politicians.

For those who believe in free enterprise there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this. In our country being a politician is a business, too. Elected representatives have a lot of responsibility. Some have tremendous power, even freshman reps with large mouths who manage to keep themselves in the spotlight with absolutely no track record.

Hypocrisy enters the picture when these individuals blast private industry for profit taking at the expense of working Americans. Elizabeth Warren, who like most of her colleagues is doing much, much better than most of her supporters would dare to dream, felt compelled to announce that she will reintroduce her Accountable Capitalism Act because of a disturbing thirty-year trend:

Senator Warren first introduced the Accountable Capitalism Act in August 2018 to reverse the harmful corporate trend over the last thirty years that have produced record corporate profits for American companies but stagnant wages for American workers.⁵

While Warren singles out “the wealthiest top 10% of Americans households”⁶ and her fact that “50% of American households own no stock at all,”⁷ senators and representatives boast an impressive jump in pay over the same period of time.

According to a Congressional Research Service Report, thirty years ago senators were making $98,400 annually and representatives $96,600 per year.⁸

That number has nearly doubled over the same period that Senator Warren uses to lament the plight of the American worker.

At least corporations contribute to building wealth for some Americans. Congress, at the moment, contributes absolutely nothing because Warren’s party is too obsessed with removing a sitting president to do anything else.

Meanwhile we pay her salary and those of her fellow senators. Impeachment-happy Democrats in the House get their cut of our paychecks, too.

Next year is an election year. Don’t expect any progress in 2020, either. Our highly paid senators and representatives will be too busy getting reelected.

UPDATE November 1, 2019:

#31: Democrats help unions cut our throat

Help me out with this. Democrats insist that unions are the future of the American worker even though experience warns us what unions do when they decide they want more money. We just saw a prima facie example in Chicago, where kids lost out for 11 days because the teacher’s union decided to flex its muscle for the sake of larger paychecks and a bigger headcount.

This Democratic Party – Big Labor synergy seems like the ultimate government hypocrisy, but in the end it makes perfect sense. Why? Because government doesn’t generate revenue. Taxpayers do. In the end Democratic public officials risk nothing by backing unions. They just pass the cost along and stick to their age-old leftist lies about collective bargaining and what makes the American worker so great.

UPDATE November 17, 2019:

#32: Ending voter suppression by suppressing the people’s vote

In nonsensical statements made during a November 13, 2019 press conference House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) claimed:

We didn’t come to Congress to impeach this president or any president. We came to Congress to get things done on behalf of everyday Americans.⁹

That remark was made as the impeachment circus became very real. Jeffries and Democratic Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-MA) also talked about Trump’s “relentless attacks on Dreamers and sabotage of our nation’s health care.”¹⁰

Jeffries claimed that Democratic attacks were really just “our effort to defend our democracy For The People”¹¹ and to end “the era of voter suppression once and for all.¹²

There is so much hypocrisy in these remarks it’s difficult to know where to begin, so let’s keep it simple:

1. The only thing on the Democratic Party’s agenda for the foreseeable future is impeaching Trump or defaming him so completely that he can’t win in 2020. Nothing else matters and this gives party members something to talk about during the campaign season other than their party’s failure to accomplish anything else.

2. Democracy is all about the people choosing their leaders. Democrats began their effort to deny Republicans their democratic right to choose even before Trump took office.

I don’t know what Rep. Jeffries sees when he envisions “The People,” but trust me. If you voted for Trump you are not included.

UPDATE December 8, 2019:

#33: Obama’s palace is Democratic Party hypocrisy at its finest

I don’t fault Barack and Michelle Obama for trying to enjoy themselves after eight years of hell. A $400,000 salary is not a lot of money for what a president goes through. The $200,000+ pension that follows isn’t a lot either, though most Americans would be overjoyed to receive a fraction of this sum when they retire.

Fortunately this isn’t usually all our ex-Commanders in Chief have to live on. A life as a public service celebrity tends to start and end well, as we saw with the announcement last week of the Obama’s purchase of a veritable palace on Martha’s Vineyard.

To put things in perspective, the average U.S. home price in September 2019 was $362,700.¹³

Had Donald Trump bought a house like this last week it would be part of next week’s impeachment proceedings. His persecutors would go after every scrap of paper no matter how remotely connected and irrelevant. Subpoenas for real estate records would fly. The documents would be put on display so every American can see the evil the fruits of wealth.

Barack and Michelle are liberal superstars but they are also exempt from scrutiny as they should be. They have left public service and a legacy of attacking the wealthy behind.

The Trumps don’t enjoy the same privacy. Even the president’s son Baron is fair game for liberal haters who believe a child should be ridiculed as part of the Democratic Party’s impeachment charade.

While we look forward to a new presidential campaign season during which Democrats will demand that we strip the evil wealthy of every dime possible, Jimmy Carter is living an entirely different ex-presidential life. The Library of Congress offers pictures of his very humble residence.¹⁴

Despite a less than stellar presidency President Carter chose a different path that shows what a life of service means. We may not agree with his politics or some of his remarks directed at our current president, but we can’t call him a hypocrite. By all appearances he lives his values.

UPDATE December 19, 2019:

#34: Rule of law means many things to Democrats

After admitting he’s served the House for nearly four decades Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) engaged in the same lengthy, hubris-laden remarks Democrats subjected us to for hours on end before doing what they told us they would do long before they had a reason to do it:

The votes we are about to take concern the rule of law and our democracy itself. Let us not forget the words of the philosopher John Locke, so influential to the Founders of our republic. He warned: ‘Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.¹⁵

Good for Hoyer for having the courage to try to slip the Locke reference past us to justify his impeachment vote. Bad for the American people who listened to his nonsense and were credited many times over yesterday with the reason the House achieved this historic milestone that isn’t going anywhere except the history books.

Hoyer’s party likes the idea of the rule of law but it has a very flexible, self-interested interpretation of what it means. When it suits Democrats to honor it the rule of law prevails. When it runs counter to their goals like lax immigration policies, flexible drug policies, and the growing fascination with “de-incarceration” as part of the radical left’s social justice agenda, the rule of law is set aside.

When it comes to a Republican president the rule of law is a maxim we can’t ignore:

The rule of law is what makes this country great, and today, the House of Representatives held President Trump accountable for breaking the law,” Rep. [Norma] Torres continued. “The only question now, is will the Senate follow suit, or let him get away with it?”¹⁶

When it comes to other issues like immigration and a border fence the rule of law is a very bad thing indeed. In fact, in Torres’ view it contradicts the values our country stands for:

The Trump administration’s executive actions on immigration are an attempt to appease the far right at the expense of our values, security, and economic well-being.¹⁷

That was from January 2017. Talk of removing Trump was heating up. The conversation with Ukraine that led to yesterday’s political travesty would not happen for another 18 months. The rule of law is a complex thing for Democrats, so let’s assume it took each and every one of those 18 months to figure out how it should best be used to suit their objectives.

Sources

1. “Quigley Leads Democratic Colleagues in Letter Urging Trump Administration to Stop Targeting Sanctuary Cities.” Congressman Mike Quigley. March 15, 2017. https://quigley.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/quigley-leads-democratic-colleagues-letter-urging-trump-administration, retrieved April 14, 2017.

2. “Congressman Cohen Reacts to Supreme Court Gerrymandering Ruling.” Steve Cohen. June 27, 2019. https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-reacts-supreme-court-gerrymandering-ruling, retrieved July 6, 2019.

3. “Klobuchar Statement on Supreme Court Ruling to Reject Census Citizenship Question.” Amy Klobuchar. June 27, 2019. https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/6/klobuchar-statement-on-supreme-court-ruling-to-reject-census-citizenship-question, retrieved July 6, 2019.

4. “Schakowsky Statement on Trump Impeachment Investigation.” Jan Schakowsky. September 24, 2019. https://schakowsky.house.gov/press-releases/schakowsky-statement-on-trump-impeachment-investigation/, retrieved October 6, 2019.

5. “Senator Warren Asks CEOs to Honor Their Commitments to ‘Promote an Economy that Serves all Americans.” Elizabeth Warren. October 4, 2019. https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senator-warren-asks-ceos-to-honor-their-commitments-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans, retrieved October 10, 2019.

6. “Warren Introduces Accountable Capitalism Act.” Elizabeth Warren. August 15, 2018. https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-introduces-accountable-capitalism-act, retrieved October 10, 2019.

7. Ibid.

8. “Salaries of Members of Congress: Recent Actions and Historical Tables.” Congressional Research Service. Updated May 17, 2019. pp. 16-17. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/97-1011, retrieved October 10, 2019.

9. “Chairman Jeffries: “We Didn’t Come to Congress to Impeach This President or Any President, but Duty Requires We Pursue This Inquiry Because No One is Above the Law.” House Democrats. November 13, 2019. https://www.dems.gov/newsroom/press-releases/chairman-jeffries-we-didnt-come-to-congress-to-impeach-this-president-or-any-president-but-duty-requires-we-pursue-this-inquiry-because-no-one-is-above-the-law-, retrieved November 17, 2019.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. “New Residential Sales.” United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/uspricemon.pdf, retrieved December 8, 2019.

14. “1. GENERAL VIEW – Jimmy Carter House, 209 Woodland Drive, Plains, Sumter County, GA.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ga0438.photos/?sp=1, retrieved December 8, 2019.

15. “Hoyer Floor Remarks on Articles of Impeachment.” Steny Hoyer. December 19, 2019. https://hoyer.house.gov/content/hoyer-floor-remarks-articles-impeachment, retrieved December 19, 2019.

16. “Congressman Torres Votes to Impeach President Trump.” Norma Torres. December 18, 2019. https://torres.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congresswoman-torres-votes-impeach-president-trump, retrieved December 19, 2019.

17. “Statement on Immigration Executive Actions.” Norma Torres. January 26, 2017. https://torres.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-immigration-executive-actions, retrieved December 19, 2019.