I try not to be reflexively partisan when evaluating Republican arguments, but recently I can’t help but notice that, by and large, Republicans have given up entirely on making honest arguments, on almost all issues. That is a huge, negative development (obviously) for the health of the body politic. But there is something different at work here too.
Usually, lies are something you tell to convince others of something wrong or to hide something you have done from discovery by others. But, Republican lies are almost exclusively lies that they tell to themselves. The key point is that Republicans have no interest — even with their lies — in actually convincing anyone who is not already on board with the Republican agenda. They don’t care if you disagree with them, and don’t care if you know that they are lying. After all, they are not lying to you.
That distinction explains everything. So, what is the purpose of Republicans self-lies? I’ll give examples below, but like addicts, Republicans tell lies to convince themselves that: (i) they are doing something the opposite of what they are actually doing, and (ii) they, alone, are doing the only right and virtuous thing. In addition (and this is the fun “decode” part), despite the many forms that lying can take, Republicans are strangely consistent in making one type of lie: that “the other side” is doing the precise thing that Republicans are doing. The whole mix — self-deception, projection, hypocrisy and self-righteousness — repeatedly and consistently applied, is a sign of a deeply dysfunctional condition . . . something worse than ordinary political prevarication. Some examples:
1. Republicans propose, for the first time in history, to prevent a president from naming a Supreme Court Justice replacement. In doing so, they are principally subverting norms and traditions that grant deference to the President. So, listen to the Republicans’ carefully crafted answer: “This is a tradition that both parties have lived by for over 80 years where in the last year, if there was a vacancy in the last year of a lame duck president, you don’t move forward.” Get that? It would be easy for Republicans to lie and say “Sure, we will give your nominee a fair hearing!” But instead, it is the Democrats that are trashing established norms and precedents, and Republicans (doing this for the first time in history) are defending (non-existent) 80 year old “traditions.”
2. This one is a real doozy. Remember the Republicans’ last government shutdown(s) and the Republicans’ mantra like defense? “Obama shut down the government.” Again, Obama shut down the government, and Republicans were fighting to re-open it — you know, for the WWII Veterans! This one has countless, funny actual videos of Republicans lying to themselves:
3. In 2011 and later, Republicans argued that the debt ceiling should not be raised (unless Republican policies were enacted), thus destroying the nation’s full faith and credit, because otherwise we would eventually default on the same debt. Republicans then argued that not raising the debt ceiling didn't mean we couldn't pay our debt after all! Other times, Republicans said that no one was refusing to raise the debt ceiling. And when the S&P credit ratings agency later downgraded U.S. Treasury debt (for the first time in our history) — explicitly citing the Republican default threats - Republicans said this confirmed the wisdom of their actions and blamed Obama’s lack of leadership.
4. These examples are easier. Do you know why Republicans refused to extend unemployment benefits in the midst of the Great Recession? Because unemployment insurance causes unemployment. (That is like arguing that fire insurance causes house fires.) You know why Republicans oppose raising the minimum wage? Because increasing the minimum wage decreases wages.
5. Or maybe my favorite: Republicans don't oppose “gay marriage”; it is Democrats that want to destroy “traditional marriage.”
If you think about it, you can identify this pattern in almost any major policy dispute. For example, did you know that protesting police killings of innocent minorities is really an argument in favor of minorities killing innocent police officers? Or that a commitment to universal health insurance was about taking away people’s insurance? The same pattern repeats over and over, regardless of context.
I am not sure that I can diagnose all the personal problems that lead to this condition, or the cynical public relations strategy that might explain it as well. My best guess, however, is that the Republican party has become enthralled, and crippled, by the central lies at the heart of its appeal : (i) cutting taxes increases revenues and (ii) trickle-down economics “work” for anyone but the rich.
Both of those core lies rely on the same sort of up-is-down, down-is-up delusion that is described above, and both of those lies are principally aimed at absolving Republicans from the consequences of their policies. My best guess is that once Republicans went all in on these two lies, and (crucially) once they saw it could work, they lost all perspective or morals whatsoever and began similarly lying to themselves on every subject available.
But who knows? Maybe Republicans are just unimaginative liars . . .