Do As I Say, Not As I Do — 54 Years of U.S. Government Hypocrisy (1971 – 2025)

From Watergate to COVID-era insider trades, the same playbook repeats: moralize in daylight, deal in shadows at dusk.

1 | Why This Matters

In my lifetime the U.S. has cycled through nine presidents, endless wars, and—at reliable two-to-five-year intervals—fresh headlines proving that the people who write the rules carve themselves exceptions. Below is a receipts-only timeline followed by the pattern-recognition toolkit and ways to snap yourself (and your circle) out of the trance.

2 | Timeline of “Rules-for-Thee” Moments (1971-2025)

Year(s)	Who / What	Public line	Private reality & fallout
1972-74	Watergate — Nixon WH	“Law-and-order presidency.”	Directed break-in & cover-up; Nixon resigned Aug 9 1974. Encyclopedia Britannica
1978-80	Abscam sting	“We fight corruption.”	7 reps & 1 senator filmed taking bribes from a fake sheikh; all convicted. Wikipedia
1981-87	Iran-Contra	“We never negotiate with terrorists.”	Secret arms-for-hostages, cash funneled to Contras; 14 indictments, 11 convictions (later pardoned). Wikipedia
1991-92	House Bank overdrafts	“Fiscal prudence.”	450 members floated fee-free rubber checks; voters furious, 77 lost seats. CQ Press Library
1995-96	House Post Office — Dan Rostenkowski	“Accountability.”	Traded stamps for cash; mail-fraud plea, 17-month prison term. EBSCO
1998-99	Clinton-Lewinsky	“Family values.”	Lied under oath about Oval-Office affair; impeached, acquitted, law license suspended.
2007	Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)	Anti-LGBT voting record.	Arrested for lewd conduct in airport restroom; career ended. Wikipedia
2008-09	TARP bail-outs	“Free-market capitalism.”	$700 B rescue for banks whose risk blew up the economy.
2012-25	STOCK Act	“No more insider trading in Congress.”	$200 slap-fines; 78 lawmakers missed trade disclosures 2020-23. Business Insider
Feb 2020	Sens. Richard Burr & Kelly Loeffler	“Publicly calm on COVID.”	Dumped millions in stock after closed briefing. ProPublica
Nov 2020	Gov. Gavin Newsom French Laundry	“Stay home, mask up.”	Mask-less $350-pp dinner while Californians under lockdown. Politico Los Angeles Times
2021-24	Congressional harassment ‘hush fund’	“Zero tolerance.”	OOC admits $17 M taxpayer payouts 1997-2017; details still sealed. House Docs
2023-25	AARO / UAP transparency	“We’ll tell the public everything.”	Briefings remain classified; civilian whistle-blowers forced to IG channels. AARO

3 | The Pattern in Plain Sight

Legislate ➜ Exempt ➜ Profit
Write the STOCK Act, then whittle enforcement down to a $200 parking ticket.
Virtue Megaphone, Vice Backdoor
Preach family values, plead guilty to airport-stall misconduct.
Security for Thee, Leaks for We
Publicly calm markets, secretly liquidate portfolios post-classified briefing.
War Drums, Peace Crumbs
93 % of America’s 250-year timeline is conflict; pork flows home, liberty erodes.

4 | How to Recognize You’re in the Spell

Red flag	What it really means
“Urgent crisis” with blank-check bill attached	Watch for riders that shield lawmakers from the very law they pass.
Bipartisan moral outrage on TV	Often stagecraft before quietly watering down enforcement.
Sealed settlements & NDAs	Settlement paid? Follow the money—your taxes or their pocket?
Rules that apply to agencies but not to Congress	OSHA, FOIA, insider-trading deadlines—all riddled with carve-outs.

5 | Breaking the Cycle (Personal & Collective)

Track the ledger, not the lecture
Follow trades (Quiver Quant), lobbying data (OpenSecrets), and leaked settlements (OOC reports).
Support sunshine bills—across parties
War Powers reform, no-stock-trading bills, FOIA expansion. Vote process, not personality.
Rewire conversation rituals
Next family dinner, replace “left vs right” with “law vs loophole.” Pin examples to dollars, not ideology.
Deploy micro-activism
One call or email per week to committee chairs when an enforcement-weakening amendment appears. Officials track call counts—tiny numbers move needles.
Model transparency in your own org
Publish budgets, meeting minutes, conflict-of-interest policies. Cultural change scales outward.

TL;DR

For 54 years the U.S. has perfected a rinse-and-repeat hypocrisy cycle: moralize, carve exemption, cash in, bury receipts. Recognizing the pattern is half the exorcism; persistent daylight does the rest.