This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Isn’t duplicity a good word?

It sort of rolls off the tongue.

And, these days, it describes various individuals involved in “political” issues, as will be shown by three examples below.

First, the definition.  The dictionary defines duplicity as:

“Deceitfulness; double-dealing.”

Sound familiar?  It should.  Here, then, are the three examples as I focus on another good word – duplicity.

TUCKER CARLSON:  Washington Post contributing columnist Matt Bai says this about Carlson, the vehement leader of the far right as he emotes on Fox News:

“Normally, I don’t spend much time thinking about the nonsense on cable television, because it’s like paying attention to the guy on the street corner who shouts about Armageddon through a bullhorn.  Some words are just noise.

“Last week, though, Tucker Carlson acidly attacked a former colleague of mine, and what he said got me thinking about one of the most persistent myths of our media moment.

“Here’s what happened:  Jon Ward, a top political reporter at Yahoo News, was about to post a critical story about Carlson’s Fox News series looking at the 2020 election and the insurrection at the Capitol. (Shocker:  Carlson says it was all a leftist conspiracy.)

In a pre-emptive attack on Ward’s piece, Carlson launched into a tirade on his nightly Fox News show, accusing Ward of doctoring a transcript of Carlson’s on-air comments.

Even by the standards of prime-time cable, Carlson’s rant was remarkably personal.  

COMMENT:  Carlson is the epitome of bad journalism.  In fact, what he practices is not journalism at all.  It is the practice of defamation and intimidation, using the stage Fox News gives him to achieve both ends – and all for ratings.

In reality, Bai adds, “the easiest thing to do right now is what Carlson does — to seek out the ardent applause of one side or the other, because the more strident and predictable you are, the more eyeballs you attract and the more appreciation you’ll garner.

“If Carlson wants to know what weakness really looks like, he should give that mirror a longer look.”

Agreed.

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT:  In a decision last week, the Supreme Court says we cannot have in our workplaces what it has in its, which is to take the precautions necessary to keep a workplace safe.

Washington Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus makes this abundantly clear in a column she wrote over the weekend.

Commenting on a Supreme Court decision, she says, “The court has been effectively closed to outside visitors since the start of the pandemic.  Now that the justices have begun hearing oral arguments in person, the lawyers appearing before them, and the reporters in the chamber, must test negative and be masked, except when speaking.  Justices who aren’t comfortable with those protocols — or with the mask-less behavior of their colleagues — have the flexibility to work remotely.”

If only the court, Marcus opines, “were willing to allow extending similar protections to the rest of us, in our workplaces.  Or to be more precise, not to interfere with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s effort to provide such protections.

“The factory workers standing cheek by jowl on assembly lines, the office workers crammed side by side at their cubicles, the cashiers and sales clerks at retail establishments — none of them enjoy the guaranteed safety protocols that the court has awarded to itself.”

COMMENT:  The duplicity of some members of the Court was illustrated even more vividly last week when Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared for oral arguments without a mask.

Marcus writes that “the court’s 6-to-3 ruling Thursday blocking the Biden Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate is yet another example of the elite playing by one set of rules while applying a different standard to the masses.”

Agreed.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  This example is almost too obvious to cite.  The reigning tennis star exemplified duplicity when he tried to travel to the Australian Open in Melbourne without being vaccinated.  That would have a violation of Australia rules requiring vaccines.

COMMENT:  What he thought, I guess, was he was such a sports star that he deserved preferential treatment.

Didn’t happen.

Authorities in Australia, after a bit of to’ing and fro’ing, finally ruled that he could not play and so deported him.

Good.

These three examples illustrate that duplicity is rampant.  It should not be.

Better to value transparency, honesty, and forthrightness in all we do – both in politics and in life.