The Death of Conservatism

The heartless, spiritually bankrupt intellectual frauds who openly court -- and are disturbingly non-judgmental of -- the most intolerant loathsome elements of the political landscape (who for some unconscionable reason have been consulted about virtually everything our government has been doing or undoing for the past six plus agonizing years) -- these are the fruits of a particular strain of conservative idealogues with a shared affinity for the Hobbesian view of humanity, which postulates that people are essentially evil and the role of the ruling class, the government, was to have a standing army and police presence and little else. Essentially that the "people" were totally on their own, frontier-style with no public services, healthcare, college grants, headstart, maintenance of roads and bridges, public defenders, job training programs, Medicare, Medicaid; you get the picture.

Also violently opposed to the Jeffersonian assertion that people were basically good and part of a government's function is to engender the conditions where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are possible through education, hard work and a sense of community, whereas conservatives have only contempt for the notion of a fair playing field.

Conservatism is in its last throes if you will, twisting in the wind, dying like communism did because neither philosophy works by definition -- they both operate from the fraudulent premise built around contempt for and control of the people.

In the coming months and years history will not absolve them. These multimillionaire radio and television personalities who stoke and taunt "Joe Sixpack" with cleverly and sometimes not-so hate speech, railing about the danger of gays taking over and turning everything and everyone gay; Hollywood liberals seem to be among the most evil people since Sodom and Gomorrah, African-Americans are attacked in veiled terms that are usually not as veiled as they think, playing on people's fear of losing their job, demonizing foreigners seemingly from everywhere, scoffing at the notion that there is no class system in this country. All the while looking down on rubes and suckers who vote against things that are in their self interest and very survival to help further a cynical, mean-spirited political movement that has become a dangerous parody of the most astoundingly inept, impotent bully wannabes who can count among them physical and intellectual cowards who knowingly and smugly perpetrate lies that have literally cost untold lives.
How did this legendarily generous and open nation become fearful, distrustful, anxious and worried about our families, our country, our future?

We must resist being manipulated into thinking that a so-called "war on terror" is "winnable"; this is as patently impossible as trying to empty a river with your hat. Terrorism is a tactic, not a country -- there always were terrorists and will always be. This is not a war that can be "won" in the conventional sense -- that is clearly an impossibility. Recent events have shown that good police work can do more than an ill-conceived war that has become a recruiting tool. The sooner it ends, the recruits diminish and the police, with the federal government's support, can do what they are trained to do.

The Department of Homeland Security was a totally unnecessary boondoggle that is redundant and sadly ludicrous because it is now known that prior to 9/11, all the information we needed to anticipate and probably prevent the attack was in existence but not shared by different agencies because of turf battles and rivalries for funding and boys with secrets out of control and not sharing because it's their secrets.

As we continue to watch conservatism devour itself we can all hope that in the end, Jefferson's dream of fair governance can be realized before it is too late.

To be continued

-- Richard Belzer

Comments

[kestudi]

Firstly, I object to your equating 'conservatism' with the current Republican administration. George Bush is not a conservative. Anyone who increases the size of government as much as Bush has is not a true conservative. Anyone who increases our national debt as much as Bush has is not a conservative.

And BTW, true conservatism is not in its "last throes" any more than the insurgency is. Just look at the people coming out of the woodwork to support Ron Paul in this election.

Sure, NEO-conservatism is essentially dead. It has lost its intellectual underpinnings as a movement (Francis Fukuyama, signee of PNAC's "Statement of Principles", voted for Kerry in '04). Its members are no longer overrunning the administration, either.

But don't call Bush II a conservative.

[spencerh]

THIS "Conservatism" may be dying, but "Conservatism" itself is not going anywhere. Unlike Liberalism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism, or the hundreds of other ideologies you have out there, "Conservatism" does not have a set system of values; it's always being reinvented:

'Conservatism, on the other hand, is fundamentally about order, not happiness. It pursues stability and "sameness" at the expense of all else. Same people, same ideas, an attempt to achieve the same way of living, year after year. Of course, Conservatism is reborn, over and over in countries and times, all over the world. It attempts to take some window of human experience and freeze it, always rejecting the new, but always being consumed by it, which produces yet another Conservatism.'

You have to realize that Conservatism very, very old. It's existed for as long as a group of people have wanted to reject change and freeze a moment (whether it existed in their minds or in reality) of human existence in time forever.

The actual ideology of modern day Republicans is an eclectic mix of authoritarian Christian Theocracy, hybrid Economic Libertarianism (for we the people) and Fascism (aka Corporatism) (for industry), topped off with unhealthy dose of fear and desires for revenge. You could just call it "Modern Republicanism".

[TJ1776]

I wish all these so-called "progressives" would stop invoking the memory of Jefferson as if he were some champion of big government.

Thomas Jefferson was a lifelong advocate of state and local government control. The kind of change that modern liberals are after have little, if anything to do with Jeffersonianism.


TJ

[Swift2]

I love the idea that the conservative juggernaut that has ruled this country since 1980 is a spent force, and that it is toppling, like communism, because its fundamental premises are just flat-out wrong. It doesn't work. What you get are Reagan in the mausoleum in California, the highest incarceration rate in the world, and a rabid minority that wants to punish the world for not being party members. If the dogma doesn't work, people must be shot until it is true.

The second thing that's going on in this Democratic revival is that the brand is now worth something again, so people are arguing over what the legacy means. Some people call themselves Democrats who have no right to do so: viz., Lieberman and others, who don't seem to get it. We can be a party where all good ideas are welcome, but the occupation must end.

Disunity hurts the brand. People hoped, maybe unrealistically, that a bare majority in the Senate would be able to put forth a veto-proof withdrawal bill. That's really not possible, because of REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTERS. And that has hurt the Democrats.

Let's not get into the kind of quibbling about centrist vs. left. Everybody has to concede that some have not been that brave during the long Conservative Soviet night in America. Some have gone for electability in red states, and that's fine. Some have a deep ideological attachment to the right wing, and they're a dead weight.

At the same time, the people who say, "If Hillary is nominated, I won't vote for her," and who threaten to go third party at the least perturbation of their beliefs have to grow up, too. Work for Kucinich or Edwards all you want, and good luck to you. But play fair.

We have to get used to power again, or the people won't trust us. It takes a party of many factions to win national elections. Lefties, centrists, even some moderate conservatives, come on down! America is changing horses again.

[SeaBlood]

Strict conseervativism is more of a religion than a political philosophy. Evidence is not necessary; all you need is faith!-- Taxes? : they are bad in ALL circumstan­ces.period­! no exceptions! Market regulation? : evil and sinfull .

[richw23]

I'm 60 years old. Since my 30's I've identified with libertarianism, but actual Libertarians all seem to be fanatical zealots. Instead I was a conservative because the Republicans seemed to be the party of less government intervention (hah).

Bush lifted the scales from my eyes, mostly because of the ridiculous lengths that right-wing pundits would go to in order to spin and deny and rationalize his ineptitude and the machinations of his posse/hand­lers/enabl­ers. I realized all the right-wing 'intellectuals' were just shills and it's all a rigged game.

Sadly, I also realize that the ideals of objectivism or libertarianism can never be achieved in the political realm because greed and government corruption make a level playing field impossible. I'm a great admirer of Ayn Rand, but I think she had the same naive belief in the ability of human beings to act in their own 'rational self-interest' and the possibility of getting honest men to govern.

I just hope enough conservatives have been influenced the same way I have.

[Swift2]

Welcome to humanity.

[Billie]

I think this is beyond conservatism now. And liberalism. It's about marketing, power and corporatism. Truth tellers get exiled, weasels get rewarded. It's almost a year since we elected a dem majority and what has happened? Zero. We have giggling, non-risk-taking bobbleheads passing themselves off as journalists on TV. Framing news (key message strategizing) instead of reporting it. We have permanent infrastructure being built in Iraq, basically turning it into a giant gas station. The poor are ignored. The American middle-class is being decimated. Celebrities bemoaning the environmental crisis yet heating five different mansions and flying around in their private planes. We can belly-ache on blogs (me included) to vent the feelings of betrayal but I think when America re-elected Bush in '04, it was game over. The majority, if one were to believe the statistics, don't read anymore unless it is Harry Potter, bodice-ripper, mystery or legal/CIA thriller. Many will probably buy the fake "red truck" story of Thompson or Rudy as "hero" story to grasp pathetically at another "strong" leader, but it's just pure bs marketing. Usually, I'm an optimist, but I think the taking over of America by corporations is an evil genie that can't be put back in the bottle. It's too entrenched now. The American people have allowed their power to be taken away and nobody listens to what we want anymore. We've become as disposal as the Iraqis we don't seem to care about judging by the mainstream news we tolerate and the criminal we allow to remain in office. And the choices are repressive conservatives who care more about a blastocyte than a human being. Or decadent, smug, corrupted liberal "elites" who want to put a child-proof safety cap around your life. But I guess we'll buy anything now. My favorite book title of the last decade or so was Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's My Country?" Was walking by a Pizza Hut and it was advertising a new dessert pizza: oreo cookies on a crust. As Marlon Brando said in Apocalypse: The horror. . .

[littleblackcat]

Except that bush WASN'T "re-elected" in '04. He was never elected, and the 2004 "election" was tampered with by Diebold, the head of which said in 2002 (I think, maybe 2001) that his biggest goal was to return bush to the White House. We heard about the 3,864 votes given to bush in a district that had only 687 registered voters because that particularly outrageous transgression was spotted by one of the poll workers and pointed out to someone able to report it to the public BEFORE the bushheads got hold of it. Consider this, if the electronic voting machines were programmed to give two-and-a-half percent of Kerry's votes to bush, nationwide, undoubtedly we would have wound up with just what we did wind up with, the APPEARANCE of bushit's have been "re-elected". WE MUST INSIST ON A PAPER RECEIPT PRINTED OUT SO WE KNOW WHO GOT THE VOTE WE CAST. Nearly every cash register in the world prints a receipt for the customer, and a duplicate for the merchant. Spot checks could help make sure no shenanigans went on. The bullshit of paper receipt machines costing "hundreds of millions of dollars" is just that, bullshit. Besides, if bushit has billions to waste on his illegal war, the repunks can afford a few measly hundreds of millions of dollars to make certain voters get an honest election. You would think they would want to do that since I know I'm not alone in feeling that there hasn't been an honest election during this administration's tenure.

[GettyGuy]

Bravo,Belz...

[TJTelecaster]

It's those swine traitor pigs of The Federalist Society, Richard..!

You can follow the stink right to their front door..

Or Karl Rove's slime trail..for that matter..

[hiprogloho]

Bravo. Let's hear it, folks. You've got me on your blog fan list with this infinite wisdom. You nailed the new global disorder to the NeoCon curb with this post.

Conservatism was always the partisan champion of institutional corruption as opposed to individual liberty. The bottom line more so than bottom feeders. The well being of wealthy minorities rather than the will of the masses.

The party of selfishness and greed hasn't so much changed as it has undergone a simple math metamorphasis. Because their cow town ranks can only dream of a voter majority now or in the future, they have chosen fascism and election fixing as a way out of Democratic majority rule.

However, those who worship the evil-is-hip Gods of money, materialism and oligarchy are to busy worrying about work and finance to have enough offspring to support and sell their fatalistic Neitzchian view of the world. And so as civility decays around us into chaos, they'll do with bullets and bombs what they can't with love and babies.

Unfortunately, they'll find that their money won't be enough to save them as the west is outpopulated both here and abroad by 3rd world havenots. Truth is, civilizations come and go and Scrooge money can't make Don Juan natural selection go away.

[schmuckwithearlaps]

Richard is talking about some important and troubling themes. When the cold war ended the conservatives immediately switched from communism to terrorism as the reason to suppress civil liberties and implant docile fear in Americans. Now the only issue that matters is the chance that the terrorist have nuclear weapons, ironically from the old cold war Soviets. That is real continuity! If the terrorists do or can have nuclear weapons, the conservatives are right. Under this theory we need to suppress the hell out of civil liberties to prevent millions of people from being blown up. If the terrorists do not really have any serious chance of obtaining such weapons, then we are being scared into submission one more time. That brings us to Iran, a country that "exists" for the sole purpose of allowing conservatives to have a back-up scare just in case Bin Laden decides to accept an executive position with Wal-Mart.

[CSE]

Mr. Belzer asks, "How did this legendarily generous and open nation become fearful, distrustful, anxious and worried about our families, our country, our future?"

Another keen mind we can dig up from the past had the answer.

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin
.

[aembry]

RIGHT ON, Munch!!

[Soulsurfer]

Fantastic post. But until we can get them to relinquish the strangle hold they have on the media, they're going to be a force to contend with. The "Greed is Good" army is a powerful foe.

[drblack]

I forgot to add that restoration of Freedom will be the policy that will put any party over the top.
You hear lots of talk about Freedom all the while it is being taken away from Americans by those who say its name the loudest.