Two recent votes in the House of Representatives demonstrated just how morally corrupt the Democratic Party is.

One was the vote on the resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), which passed 213–209 along party lines. The other was the vote by the House Committee on Ways and Means to release the transcripts of two IRS whistleblowers, exposing an obviously partisan attempt to cover up Hunter Biden’s tax evasions. That, too, passed along strict party lines, 25–18.

In the grand scheme of things, these two votes might seem like small potatoes — a pair of trivial footnotes in the long and often contentious history of partisan acrimony in Congress. There is something about them, though, that seems momentous and ominous. Do they make up a “crossing the Rubicon”–type episode? Time will tell. 

It seems that bipartisanship died and was buried some time ago, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someday we look back at June 2023 and say: “That is when the Democratic Party shed its last remnant of decency. That is when it abandoned all pretense of respecting the American people, the institution of Congress, the rule of law, and the truth itself. That is when, by circling the partisan wagons around two egregiously unethical and reprehensible characters, the Dems made it plain that they have no scruples, honor no principles, and hold no values higher than the attainment of power.”

Democrat Corruption Exposed in House Votes

Schiff, as you surely know, was censured for a yearslong pattern of publicly declaring that, as a ranking member and, later, as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he had access to classified information proving that former President Donald Trump’s campaign had colluded with the Russians. I have a clear visual and aural memory of him making such statements.

It was despicable at the time, and it remains so today — a clear abuse of his office. Now that special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham and Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz have exposed Schiff’s claims as outrageous fabrications, it is undeniable that Schiff lied to the American people maliciously and repeatedly in a ruthless attempt to subvert the Trump presidency.

As for the president’s son, many of us, I suspect, are so revolted by what already has seeped to the surface that we almost hope that the entire list of his crimes doesn’t come to light, lest we turn nauseous at the odiousness of it all. (READ MORE: Five Quick Things: The George Floyd–ization of Adam Schiff)

However, as repulsive as the conduct of these two men has been over the years, the truly sickening development is that there wasn’t a single Democratic representative willing to take a stand and say, “I really want our party to rule, but not so cravenly that I am willing to condone such gross malfeasance.” Pangs of conscience seem nonexistent. Apparently, they are all onboard the Marxian/Machiavellian Express, burying conscience and embracing the diabolical dictum: “The end justifies the means.” As long as the target of Schiff’s serial lies was Trump, and as long as the one being investigated for tax evasion and apparent bribe-taking is the son of a Democratic president, the Dems see no evil.

For House Democrats to rush to the defense of a bald-faced liar and a corrupt, and possibly treasonous, hedonist is tragic enough as it is; what is even more sobering is the possibility that a majority of voters in their respective congressional districts will ignore their defense of flagrant immorality and return them to office for additional terms.

Democrats Have No Shame

Politicians, of course, are not known for their candor and honesty. The Schiff and Hunter affairs will result in many Democrats “not remembering,” lying brazenly, or artfully changing the subject. I wish, though, that for one hour, they could be strapped in a chair and injected with a truth serum. How would they answer the following questions?:

1. Do you really believe that Schiff did not lie to the American people when he stated publicly that he had proof that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to win the 2016 election?
2. Do you think that the actions described in the censure resolution are acceptable — that is, even if a representative did what the censure resolution set forth, it wasn’t a serious enough offense to merit a censure?
3. Were Hunter Biden’s alleged actions legal? Ethical?
4. Do you truly believe Hunter’s dad was not involved in his shenanigans?

Well, that’s a pipedream. It ain’t gonna happen. Instead, they will dissemble, deflect, and do their best to keep veiling the truth. We can infer this from the way many House Democrats behaved during Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s reading of the Schiff censure resolution.

Their way of showing solidarity with the dishonorable Schiff was cheap, tawdry, and more than a little thuggish. Rather than respecting the rules, traditions, and decorum of the House by letting the Speaker have two minutes to read the censure resolution, mobs of Democratic representatives joined Schiff in the well. Like some Antifa or Nazi mob, they did their best to drown out McCarthy’s voice with their chanting. 

And what did they chant? The Dems had the super-ironic chutzpah to exclaim, “Shame, shame!”

Shame? Those Democratic representatives have no shame. A human being capable of feeling shame would be embarrassed to defend a colleague who had disgraced his office so thoroughly. A decent person could not applaud the legal double standard being applied to Trump without some hint of shame. But Democrats’ shamelessness extends to not showing a trace of embarrassment about the ridiculous plea bargain used to protect Hunter Biden and his father. 

Democrats’ Double Standards

Double standard? Here’s one for you: Democrats habitually denounce “the rich” for avoiding taxes (while burdening the not-so-rich with taxes). They preach that the primary obligation of U.S. citizens is to pay a “fair share” of their wealth in taxes to Uncle Sam. But are any Democrats scolding Hunter Biden for evading taxes?

As the platitude goes, the silence has been deafening. The outrageous double standard in evidence here is that Democrats believe that, on the one hand, the government should be used to reduce the wealth of the average citizen in general and Republicans in particular, but, on the other hand, the government should be used to increase the wealth of Democrats. (RELATED: VIDEO: Fortunate Son: Hunter Biden’s Life of Public Crime)

Three final thoughts:

First, perhaps you noticed that one representative who joined the Democrats’ pro-Schiff demonstration on the floor of the House was former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Once again, as when she tore up Trump’s State of the Union address on national television, this classless woman could not contain her spite. Like some banana-republic demagogue, she proved incapable of preserving some modicum of dignity, unable to show some modicum of respect for the rules of the House. Laws and rules are for others to obey, not for her.

Second, as a political strategy, the censure motion might turn out to be a Republican blunder. While GOP supporters saw the justice of holding Schiff accountable for his malfeasance in office, making a spectacle of him probably will boost campaign contributions to him. He will be viewed as a political martyr by zealous partisans on the left.

Third, at a time when the left-wing press is attacking conservative justices on the Supreme Court in the hope of hounding one or two of them into retirement, we should be grateful that the court has not degenerated into the rigid partisanship that now infects the House of Representatives. The nine justices — despite the considerable philosophical, ideological, and jurisprudential differences between them — are still capable of issuing 9–0, 8–1, 7–2, and 5–4 decisions instead of ideologically pre-determined 6–3 votes. Unlike Congress, where votes have become mere formalities and are split regularly along partisan lines, the court has not fallen into such robotically unthinking behavior.

Thank goodness at least one of the three branches of the federal government hasn’t succumbed to the virus of blind, virulent partisanship.

Mark Hendrickson is an economist who retired from the faculty of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, where he remains a fellow for economic and social policy at the Institute for Faith and Freedom. He is the author of several books on topics as varied as American economic history, anonymous characters in the Bible, the wealth inequality issue, and climate change.