Contradictions and Hypocrisy Really Help To Fill The Tent

One understated problem of the current GOP "platform" is that it is fraught with contradiction or, in some cases, blatant hypocrisy. Of course, this could be viewed as just an elegant way of saying that they don't really stand for anything. But that would be missing the point. They do stand for some things. But their stances are often, well, at odds with one another.

The GOP is ostensibly "pro-life," but it also supports torture and the death penalty. They have a "message that can appeal to minorities," but not to Muslims or Mexicans, because they're no good. They're "tough on crime" but they're adamantly against prosecution of Bush-era war criminals. They're for small, less-intrusive government, but they want the government to ban gay marriage and regulate indecency on the airwaves. They want to bulk up terrorist-fighting forces in the Middle East, but they're also for lower taxes. They love strict interpretations of the Constitution, but really only when it applies to the Second Amendment.

Granted, similar hypocrisies within the Democratic Party do exist. (See: the Iraq War, FISA Amendments Act, Military Commissions Act, and the PATRIOT Act.) But not nearly to the same degree. And what's more, there are practically no litmus tests for the D's. Which means there's not as much of the narrow-mindedness that currently defines the Republicans. If you deviate even a bit from not only being rigidly anti-immigrant and unwaveringly pro-life, but thinking these issues should define the national political discourse, you are unworthy of the R next to your name. Which is not only a surefire electoral loser, but a dumb stance for any "political" party to take.