Posted by
ARestlessMind on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:31:25 AM
I admit it, I am an "I told you so" sort of guy. March 10, 2008, I posted an essay entitled "Rampant Rationalization." In it I took a shot at all of the so-called conservative, Christian, Republicans who crossed party lines to participate in Rush Limbaugh’s "Operation Chaos" during the presidential primaries. As I stated in "Rationalization," I believed those who crossed were engaging in Democrat style politics.
They were being dishonest, unethical and wrong! Today, I am sitting here vindicated and saddened, looking back at the debacle that was the 2008 presidential race.
Whether Operation Chaos made any real difference in the outcomes of the primaries is not clear. However, it is clear it did not work as planned. It is clear those who followed Limbaugh’s lead acted questionably and wasted their time. Worse, they may have placed local political races in jeopardy and created some of the bad feelings that helped Obama carry the day.
The problem with situational ethics becomes apparent when on does not achieve the desired outcome. Unfortunately, people will forgive someone for being well intentioned but unethical, if the outcome is what they support. We see that every day in the corporate world.
Consider the people who contributed to the housing debacle. Real estate agents, home builders’ sales reps, lenders, appraisers and home buyers engaged in questionable practices to sell and buy homes. People were allowed, in some cases encouraged, to falsify credit information to purchase a home. Appraisers were asked to inflate appraisals to justify loans. Builders sold substandard houses to substandard buyers and mortgage companies bragged about 110% financing on loans with no documentation or income or ability to pay.
Things were very good for a while. Houses were selling. New homeowners were happy. Builders were reporting record prophets. The Federal Government was bragging about all the new home owners during the various administrations. In summary, the ends were justifying the means, right up until the bubble burst.
The finger-pointing began as soon as foreclosure rates started to climb. Suddenly, these unethical, even criminal, agents, appraisers, loan officers, builders and buyers were being roundly condemned for their actions. So, let the finger-pointing begin in the Operation Chaos debacle.
Limbaugh and others were wrong to advocate that people misrepresent themselves by crossing party lines in an attempt to manipulate the other party’s primary. Voters were wrong to participate. Of course, if the strategy had worked, all would be forgiven. At least, many of us would be overlooking the fact tens of thousands of our fellow conservatives sacrificed their integrity to bring about what we believed would be a good outcome.
Perhaps, the fact we did not see that outcome is our reward and our punishment. Perhaps, we are getting exactly what we deserve for lying and compromising our ethics at such a critical time in our history. Perhaps, we are getting our just desserts!