IOKIYAR refers to the belief that unethical or illegal behavior by the Republican party is protected, while Democrats are held to a higher standard. This is often seen in cases of hypocrisy, such as Republican leaders condemning Clinton’s affair while committing similar acts themselves. The close association between religious conservatism and the Republican Party is a contributing factor. Some Republicans object to the term, and the opposite term IOKIYAD may start appearing.
IOKIYAR is an acronym that stands for It’s OK If You’re A Republican, referring to allegations of hypocritical behavior by powerful members of the Republican party. Someone making this charge might charge, for example, that a Republican-led commission could question a Democratic official for days about an alleged ethics violation, but spend only hours questioning a Republican official about a similar ethics complaint. The idea is that the unethical or illegal behavior of the ruling party is protected by an unspoken IOKIYAR mentality. Clearly, not all Democrats support this notion, and some Republicans may argue IOKIYAD: It’s OK if you’re a Democrat.
One alleged example of IOKIYAR in action involved the impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, an influential member of the Democratic party. The charges included lying under oath and obstruction of justice, both in connection with an extramarital affair. The impeachment, which many believed was orchestrated by Clinton’s conservative Republican opponents, ultimately failed, but it exposed other examples of political wrongdoing.
Many Democrats later raised the point that many of the same Republican leaders who led the charge against Clinton on moral and ethical grounds were later shown to have committed similar personal and professional acts. Former Republican Representative Newt Gingrich, for example, admitted to having an extramarital affair at the same time he publicly condemned Clinton for the Lewinsky affair. Other Republican officials were named clients of prostitution rings or came out as homosexuals during this same period. This hypocrisy gave rise to the derisive acronym IOKIYAR, used mainly by pro-democracy political pundits and bloggers.
One of the underlying causes of the IOKIYAR phenomenon is the close association between religious conservatism and the Republican Party as a whole. Many Republican candidates have been elected based on their strong ties to Christianity and the moral and ethical behavior it suggests. Republican leaders who openly and publicly denounce the unethical or immoral behavior of a Democratic politician often cite their religious leanings as proof of their correctness. According to the IOKIYAR philosophy, a conservative Republican embroiled in a moral or ethics scandal can justify his or her behavior more readily than a liberal Democrat could.
It goes without saying that many Republicans object to this term and its implications. Of course, IOKIYAD may start appearing on political blogs, if it hasn’t already. The essential idea behind IOKIYAR is that self-righteous or morally questionable behavior could be minimized by the ruling group even if members of another group are vilified for petty crimes or peccadilloes.
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