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Party of Hypocrites: What I Learned from the Morality Police
The influential conservative commentator and #1 bestselling author illuminates the hypocrisies of the right while exposing how the left excuses their own failings and uses false virtue to gain political advantage
In the fall of 2012, a sexual scandal involving #1 bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza sent the tabloids into a frenzy and resulted in his dismissal as president of a Christian college. To D'Souza's dismay, while liberal bloggers trumpeted his fall from grace, they condemned him not for adultery but for hypocrisy. For the left, a Christian leader who fails to uphold moral standards can be used to discredit not just conservatives themselves, but the moral standards they defend and the idea of moral standards altogether.
In Party of Hypocrites, D'Souza argues that hypocrisy has become our main-indeed our only-public sin. But our understanding of it is morally confused and fraught with contradictions. Instead of condemning hypocrisy broadly, we must distinguish between "good" and "bad" hypocrisy. Conservative hypocrisy, far from discrediting traditional morals, actually strengthens them, he insists, while liberal hypocrisy cuts at the foundations of morality itself.
D'Souza uses his personal failing as a lens through which to view hypocrisy on both sides of the political divide, distinguishing "bad" right wing hypocrites from "good", while making the case that liberal hypocrites are worse. But it's not just liberals who must change, he contends. D'Souza makes clear that the GOP must redefine its relationship to the social issues pushed by religious conservatives, for without a new approach, the party cannot attract the broad support it needs to win a national election again.
In the fall of 2012, a sexual scandal involving #1 bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza sent the tabloids into a frenzy and resulted in his dismissal as president of a Christian college. To D'Souza's dismay, while liberal bloggers trumpeted his fall from grace, they condemned him not for adultery but for hypocrisy. For the left, a Christian leader who fails to uphold moral standards can be used to discredit not just conservatives themselves, but the moral standards they defend and the idea of moral standards altogether.
In Party of Hypocrites, D'Souza argues that hypocrisy has become our main-indeed our only-public sin. But our understanding of it is morally confused and fraught with contradictions. Instead of condemning hypocrisy broadly, we must distinguish between "good" and "bad" hypocrisy. Conservative hypocrisy, far from discrediting traditional morals, actually strengthens them, he insists, while liberal hypocrisy cuts at the foundations of morality itself.
D'Souza uses his personal failing as a lens through which to view hypocrisy on both sides of the political divide, distinguishing "bad" right wing hypocrites from "good", while making the case that liberal hypocrites are worse. But it's not just liberals who must change, he contends. D'Souza makes clear that the GOP must redefine its relationship to the social issues pushed by religious conservatives, for without a new approach, the party cannot attract the broad support it needs to win a national election again.
Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2013
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About the author
Dinesh D'Souza
53 books904 followersDinesh D’Souza is a political commentator, bestselling author, filmmaker and a former policy analyst in the Reagan White House, Dinesh D'Souza graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983. He served as John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. D'Souza writes primarily about Christianity, patriotism and American politics.
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