Florida Representative Matt Gaetz is only the latest “family values” Republican to be revealed as a Fascistic hypocrite.

On January 29, he released the following statement: “America is unique in the world because we acknowledge that our rights come from God, not government….And I will always stand up for family values, which includes giving a voice to the unborn.” 

Now the Justice Department is investigating Gaetz for an alleged sexual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 2019.

Other “family values” hypocrites have included:

• Josh Duggar. On On May 21, 2015, he resigned as director of the Family Research Council, a Right-wing organization dedicated to fighting sexually-oriented issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and pornography.

The reason: The oldest son of the “all-American” Duggar family as a 14-15 year-old, had fondled the breasts and vaginas of five underage girls—four of whom were his own sisters. 

Although his parents knew about his perverted activities, Jim Bob Duggar waited more than a year after Josh confessed before contacting the police.

• Dennis Hastert. On May 28, 2015, the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives (1999-2007) was indicted for violating federal banking laws and lying to the FBI.

He had tried to conceal $3.5 million in hush-money payments over several years to a man who was blackmailing him.

The source of the blackmail: A homosexual—and possibly coerced–relationship that had occurred before Hastert entered Congress in 1981. Except that it was more than a homosexual relationship.

It was a relationship with an underage student while Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Ill.

“I felt a special bond with our wrestlers,” Hastert wrote in his 2004 memoirs, Speaker: Lessons From Forty Years of Coaching and Politics.  “And I think they felt one with me.”

Apparently that “special bond” extended to activities outside the ring.

Hastert wasn’t indicted for having had a sexual relationship with an underage student. The statute of limitations had long ago run out on that offense.

He was indicted for trying to evade federal banking laws and lying to the FBI.

Dennis Hastert

The indictment did not provide specifics about Hastert’s relationship with the former student. But it clearly indicated that Hastert’s early career at Yorkville High School was material to the charges.

Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor now head of the Chicago division of the private security company, Kroll, told the Chicago Tribune: “The feds don’t put superfluous facts in an indictment. If it’s in there, it’s relevant.”

Cramer added that the sheer size of the payoffs pointed to a secret that was clearly devastating: “$3.5 million is a lot of money to keep a secret hidden.”

According to the indictment, the FBI began investigating the cash withdrawals in 2013.The Bureau wanted to know if Hastert was using the cash for criminal purposes or if he was the victim of a criminal extortion.

When questioned by the FBI, Hastert said he was storing cash because he didn’t feel safe with the banking system: “Yeah … I kept the cash. That’s what I’m doing.”

One part of Hastert’s life was not secret: His opposition to homosexual rights.

From 1997 to 2007, Hastert voted for the Marriage Protection Act, which “forbids requiring any state or any other political subdivision of the United States to credit as a marriage a same-sex relationship treated as marriage in another state or equivalent government.”

Hastert also voted in favor of a Constitutional amendment to “establish that marriage shall consist of one man and one woman.”

He also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which banned companies from discriminating against employees “on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Owing to Hastert’s “deeply conservative” voting record, in 1998, he received perfect scores of 100 from

• The National Rifle Association;
• The Christian Coalition;
• The National Right to Life Committee; and
• The Chamber of Commerce

Hastert makes the third Republican “family values” Speaker of the House to become ensnared in an ethics scandal.

Newt Gingrich was the first Speaker (1985-1999) in the history of the House to be reprimanded and punished for ethics violations. His offense: Claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes.

He successor, Bob Livingston, was forced to resign when publisher Larry Flynt revealed his sexual infidelities.

And now there’s Dennis Hastert, whose conduct involved neither money nor women—just a male high school student.

Of course, Democrats have had their sex scandals as well—as President Bill Clinton can thoroughly attest.  But Democrats usually don’t suffer as badly from them.

The reason: Republicans portray themselves as moral examples for the nation. So for them, being caught literally with their pants down proves a double-whammy.

They are condemned for their specific illegal/immoral acts—and for the sheer hypocrisy of their false claims of sainthood.

Ironically, Right-wingers would fare better when caught in sexual affairs if they simply admitted their sexual tastes and registered as Democrats.

But in heavily Right-wing states like Texas and Oklahoma, they wouldn’t stand a chance of being elected as a Democrat.

And Red-state voters, feeling themselves moral arbiters of the nation, wouldn’t elect anyone they thought was “unnatural.”

So Right-wingers will continue pretending to be moral paragons—and will continue paying the price when they’re exposed as fallible humans.