Democrats excel in hypocrisy. It seems like half the time they speak they’re making some bold, confident statements about events and then the other half they come out and say the opposite, equally boldly and confidently, about similar events. Here are just a handful of recent examples:

They silenced the women Bill Clinton sexually assaulted but then embraced the #MeToo movement and declared that all victims must be heard;

They acquitted Bill Clinton of impeachment over perjury but voted to impeach President Trump for the high crime of faithfully executing his office;

They accused Attorney General William Barr of being Trump’s wingman but accepted Eric Holder’s self-designation as President Obama’s wingman;

They mock non-Ivy-League Republicans (Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump) for being stupid but protect the apparently demented Joe Biden;

They characterize strong language from conservatives as unacceptable, violent behavior but then characterize Antifa’s actual violence as peaceful protests;

They criticize President Trump’s fast response to the coronavirus as racist but then go into a full panic and say he didn’t act quickly enough;

Chuck Schumer called out President Trump for criticizing the bias of certain Supreme Court justices in their prior opinions but then threatened, with physical violence no less, two other justices if they voted a certain way on a future case.

But have you ever noticed that, no matter how often they do this kind of thing, no matter how obvious the contradictions are, the accusation of hypocrisy never seems to slow any of them down? Democrats are never embarrassed when this kind of thing is exposed, and their voters don’t seem bothered by it, either. In truth, Democrats are not being hypocritical when they talk out of both sides of their mouths like this. It sounds like hypocrisy, but the truth is, everything listed above is actually an example of the Democrats faithfully, consistently, and sincerely pursuing their core belief and highest priority.

The core belief of all leftists is that the government should have more power. It doesn’t matter how much power the government currently has, the goal is always to get more. And the core priority of leftists is that this growing power of government should always be in their hands. Gaining and keeping power is what’s most important and most urgent in any situation.

When considering leftist contradictions with the core belief and top priority in mind, you won’t see hypocrisy, you’ll see single-minded commitment to the cause. Voting to acquit Clinton and impeach Trump is admirably consistent behavior for them. That’s why they never seem to be bothered or rattled by being called hypocrites. When we call them hypocrites in situations like these, they merely chuckle to themselves about how conservatives are too weak to play this game and too naïve to know the rules.

Instead of calling them hypocrites, a better strategy might be to call them dangerous, power-hungry weasels: “Here’s another example of the Democratic lust for power. They’re not defending a grand American ideal here, they’re just trying to fool us into giving them more power. They’ll say anything and take any position as long as it will get them more control over your lives. And don’t forget, the more power they have, the less freedom you have.”

I’m not suggesting Democrats aren’t hypocrites; they are actually enormous hypocrites. But these aren’t examples of their hypocrisy. That’s because hypocrisy isn’t the same as inconsistency or flipflopping or even failing to live up to your deeply held beliefs. Hypocrisy is pretend virtue. Hypocrisy is pretending to hold to some respected ideal or moral position when it really has no place in your heart at all. Jesus explained it this way: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (Matthew 15:7-8, quoting Isaiah 29:13).

Pretend virtue is the leftists’ stock-in-trade.

They pretend to fight for women while they encourage them to give in to the men who want to use them for sex, to dress for men’s pleasure, to kill their own children, and now to accept men using their bathrooms and overrunning their sporting events.

They pretend to care about children but encourage them to be dangerously promiscuous, indoctrinate, rather than teach, them in school, scare them with tales of global catastrophes caused by their parents, and are now grooming them to accept as normal gender reassignments.

They pretend to be the great defenders of racial minorities while destroying their cities, splitting up their families, letting them kill each other off, and keeping them dependent on government.

They pretend to care about the poor while they advocate policies that hurt the poor, from rent control (reduces available housing thus increasing its cost), minimum wage laws (artificially increases the cost of labor, keeping the unskilled from getting a job that would get them into the workforce), lax immigration laws (increases the number of workers, holding down wages), taxes and regulation (increases the cost and risk of creating their own jobs), and welfare benefits (decreases the incentive to get a job and work their way out of poverty and dependency).

And this list is just a small sample of their hypocrisy. I’m sure readers can think of plenty of others.

This pretend virtue is actually far more insidious, dangerous, and destructive than the contradictory positions they spout to protect their power. This pretend virtue is the real hypocrisy that we should be pointing out every chance we get.

Republicans running for Congress have successfully pointed out their opponent’s pretend virtue when they compare promises made at home with votes recorded in Washington. This effectively reveals the pretend virtue of their words, which aligns so well with the values of their home district, and the callousness of their actions, which perfectly supports national Democratic interests.

President Trump called out the Democrats' pretend virtue during his 2016 campaign. He asked African-Americans to consider how little the Democratic Party had done for them over the last half-century and to give the Republicans a chance. “What do you have to lose?” he said, giving a rhetorical flourish to the accusation of pretend virtue. The result has been an approval rating among racial minorities climbing to heights unseen for a Republican since Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.

This strategy of pointing out pretend virtue, which has worked to unseat individual congressmen and to dislodge minorities from the tight grip of the Democratic Party, could be just as effective in changing the feelings of other core pieces of the liberal tapestry. Women can be shown how this pretend virtue has made them more vulnerable to predators and robbed them of wonderfully intimate relationships. Parents can be shown how this pretend virtue is hurting their children academically, socially, spiritually, and sexually. The poor can be shown how this pretend virtue has kept them in poverty, depriving them of access to the great economic engine that has lifted millions of others to financial stability and happiness.

Dennis Prager has pointed out that truth is not a leftist value. Since President Trump took office, they’ve been called out for pushing fake news. Now it’s time to call them out for their pretend virtue!

Steve Matteucci has degrees in Economics, Law, Taxation, and Theology. His book, How to Be a Trustee: Practical Thinking on Settling a Living Trust, is available on Amazon.