I'm all for Operation Hilarity. What's notable about that, however, is that I had to think about it first. I didn't come into this with a preestablished stance. I figured I would share my rationale.
I don't have any use for the poisonous culture here, but I still enjoy reading the front page. It really is like getting the paper a week or even a month early. When I read about Operation Hilarity I knew it would cause a stir.
I am sympathetic to the notion that Operation Hilarity is an unethical proposal. I think that, in a different time and place, it genuinely would be unethical to meddle in the internal affairs of another political party. And don't get me wrong: I don't like the idea of Operation Hilarity. It's not hilarious to me; it's sad that we have been brought to a point in our nation's history that we are even considering it. But the concepts of "doing what is right" and "I like it" are not required to overlap.
What is ethical usually depends on the context. In this case, the context is that a Republican president and a Republican congress at this point in the decay of the contemporary conservative movement would be devastating to the nation. Gripe and moan all you like about President Obama; even if we humor everyone's worst criticisms about him he is no worse than an ineffective loser, and so at the end of the day we are facing--at worst--a choice between electing an ineffective loser and electing an existential danger to the United States as a liberal democracy.
We couldn't afford eight years of Bush, and we have already paid for that blunder with the brightness of our national future. Right now, however, the Republican Party is even crazier than it was under Bush. The conservative movement lost its intellectual base in the 1990s and crested in power in 2004. Since then it has been in a rapid decline, with the far-right lunatics capturing more and more influence inside the party and using it to threaten the entire nation with an agenda that without exaggeration is fascist. Faced with the failure of modern conservatism, the crazies think that only by moving even farther to the right can they redeem themselves. It's a death spiral, and they will take as many people as possible down with them, if we allow it.
We are at the point where, ethically, I think people of good conscience are obliged to exploit the political system within the law to thwart the Republicans from winning power this November. By extending the primary process we damage their brand, and we may even shoot the moon and get the GOP to nominate an unelectable Talibaner like Rick Santorum. With Santorum on the ticket we would win the House easily and probably even keep the Senate. That would give the Republican Party another two years in the wilderness, minimum, to decide how much influence its frothier factions ought to wield.
Let me say it again. American conservatism is insane right now. We're arguing about birth control in the 21st century. That's not acceptable. It's the beginning of something much more dangerous. We need to nip this in the bud while we can still do so by winning elections, and to win elections we would be greatly helped by extending the Republican nominating contest.