Massachusetts State House

(Source: Mass.gov)

Strategic silence

We expect bad actors to spin and mislead in politics; that’s the nature of the game. The more insidious and ubiquitous rhetorical failure is when politicians and their advocates selectively enforce their own views.

That’s the hypocrisy of omission: when a group only calls out bad behavior when advantageous, falling silent when their allies or parties do the same thing.

The Massachusetts angle

Massachusetts, for all its progressive self-image, has one of the least transparent legislatures of any state. Floor votes seldom happen, bills die quietly in committee, and deals happen behind closed doors with little to no oversight.

For many progressives, speaking out feels dangerous; calling your party (or the closest thing to it) out for bad behavior can fracture coalitions, alienate moderates, and highlight failures, especially in the vicious political environments of today.

The Massachusetts GOP faces an uphill battle as well: the national platform is actively hostile to Massachusetts institutions. Party leadership fumbles balancing its stated conservative tenets with the contradictory national platform.

A false tradeoff

The current administration has seemingly perfected the art of never admitting a failure, making this strategy feel disadvantageous. However, we have real power to circumvent this at a local level. Supporting leaders who genuinely represent our values is challenging (and sometimes impossible) but essential, and when they fail, we must work together to propose a better way forward. True accountability grows from grassroots upwards:

  • Get involved!
  • Stay informed!
  • Speak out!