Last year, a libertarian friend asked my definition of conservatives and liberals. He was poised to attack any biased flaws. I told him, "To me, a conservative is a person who sees what is good and important about the past, and wants to protect that and keep it strong. A liberal is someone who wants to grow the present into a strong, vibrant and even better future."
This received his hugely-surprised seal of approval.
I've never thought conservatism is inherently "wrong." Indeed, it's important as part of a well-rounded world-view. Just as it's equally critical to have liberalism in one's makeup. The question is the balance.
Ultimately, I've gravitated to a liberal or progressive philosophy because if society is going to prosper, it is only going to happen in that future. Liberalism is not perfect. But given that liberalism is about change and questioning the status quo -- it allows for changing itself when necessary, addressing its excesses. Most often, however, this liberal change is adapting to Life, whose conditions are relentlessly, unavoidably changing -- child labor laws, the minimum wage, Civil Rights Act, federal deposit insurance, the TVA bringing electricity to rural America, unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare and more.
A conservative view provides crucial, specific benefits and solid stability. But the benefits are of the moment, of the issue. Expanding those moments to an all-encompassing life philosophy relies over-heavily on always looking backwards. Too often conservatism stays entrenched in the past it's "conserving," also pushing to undo progress to return to that preferred past. Because conservatism is grounded on tightly holding onto what works best from previous times, no mechanism for resolving conservative mistakes readily exists. And the conservative tenet of unquestioning faith, passed down from the Religious Right, only serves to protect those very mistakes, which in secular matters results in stagnation.
And so, we see Far Right/Religious Right/Tea Party Republicans of today campaigning to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut the minimum wage, cut unemployment insurance, cut health care reform, cut Wall Street Reform, repeal the 14th Amendment. That's the conservative philosophy. That's the America they want.
What most Americans want is Social Security and Medicare.
In recent weeks, we've seen Republican candidates Joe Miller in Alaska and Linda McMahon in Connecticut suggest cutting the minimum wage - a program so wildly-popular that a new Public Religion Research Institute poll found that two-thirds of Americans want it increased by 50%. Reaction against Ms. McMahon was so intense that she raced to reverse her position.
To be clear, conservatism is not inherently cruel or mean-spirited, as it is often portrayed. But that appearance is the natural result of actions taken that continually harm those in need.
We saw this in Congress, as Republicans filibustered extending unemployment insurance during the biggest recession since the Great Depression. Or when Republicans blocked a jobs extension bill that would have saved tens of thousands of desperate Americans.
And so, from cutting public services, it's a natural progression to a fire department letting Gene Cranick's home burn over a $75 fee that wasn't paid -- but was pleadingly offered. We get conservatives applauding this. We get Glenn Beck mocking "compassion, compassion, compassion, compassion." We get Jonah Goldberg ridiculing it as "an important lesson," amazingly adding, "Zing!"
If anyone wonders where the mean-spirited image of conservatives comes from, this is its parking spot. Alongside the Ann Coulters of the world "joking" about poisoning Supreme Court justices.
By the way, if you saw a total stranger drowning, I'm guessing you would all try to help in some way. And you wouldn't ask for $75 first.
This is the world that the Far Right/Religious Right/Tea Party Republicans want to bring to America. Cut, cut, cut, return to the past. Burn, baby, Burn.
Cut unemployment, cut the minimum wage, cut Medicare, cut Social Security. Cut health care reform. Cut Wall Street reform.
That Public Religion poll reports that 54% of Americans are more likely to vote for candidates who support health care reform. And 58% favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Unlike the Jan Brewers of the world in Arizona who want to see your papers.
It is a world where Nikki Haley, "Tea Party" Republican candidate for governor in South Carolina, wants to drug test anyone getting unemployment insurance, same as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Never mind that this would surely cost more than it would save. It's a world view that sees the unemployed as shiftless, drug-ridden and probably black, rather than our destitute American neighbors out of work. And it singles out the destitute, rather than testing anyone getting government money.
It is unfair to paint all conservatives with one brush. Such a picture of wouldn't be true. But the picture has a foundation they have built themselves.
It's a foundation built upon selfish "I've got mine, you're on your own" bravado - ignoring that we all benefit from government. Government never seems too big when it provides what conservatives want: military, police, fire protection (okay, except to Gene Cranick), college loans, VA loans, interstate highway system, protecting our food and water and children's toys, bank deposit insurance, infrastructure, and on and on and on and on. Government only becomes intrusive for Far Right conservatives once they've finally got theirs. The rest be damned. Sharron Angle says she's already had her babies. Rand Paul wants some inconveniences unprotected by the Civil Rights Act.
Again, this is not inherent in conservatism, which is a serious part of society. But at heart, it is founded on the past, and the Far Right cements it there. That is the problem with a conservative life philosophy as the direction for America.
America doesn't live in the past. America builds for the future. And despite Far Right actions to the contrary, America compassionately asks to embrace the tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
And this is why a conservative direction for America, spanning our 234-year history, is backwards. Liberalism is flawed, but self-correcting. Conservatism is flawed, but self-perpetuating. And that is why the conservative "Pledge" to America is actually a threat.
"We are not going to be any different than what we've been," said the man hoping one day to be Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), when he presented that Pledge.
And in the end, that is precisely the problem with a Far Right/Religious Right/Tea Party philosophy. It is not going to be any different. Ever. The rest of us always prefer to grow.
But thanks to John Boehner for at least warning us.
http://obionfire.blogspot.com/
Conservatism, this evil hodgepodge of the bullshit novels of Ayn Rand combined with the failed economic policies of the Chicago school and the cynical geopolitics of the neo-cons have brought this country to the edge of the abyss.
There is no middle ground, there is no bipartisanship, there is only the voice of the people crying for food, for water, for shelter and for justice.
Their voice will be heard.
The ever supporting "we want our America back" crowd (aka the low IQ's, racists and the scared) feel able to voice their nonsense mainly because of where the center of the dialog is, and because a collective of crooks and liars in big business and the conservative crowd have made a political calculation that inciting their child like fears & apprehensions about life in America will lead to a better turnout and likely more control for them. All the while, ensuring that the only possible mechanism to protect the working public from the onslaught of corporate malfeasance that has been unleashed by W and his cronies, is limited in its ability to do so. By that, I mean our Federal Government. Who else can keep them in check? Insanity.
Like all things, gov regs can be damaging and not beneficial in all ways intended but at least "We the People" have a hand on the wheel. Who's making sure giant corporations have the country's best interest in mind vs short term profits? No one, until they are made to do so by affecting their profits. BP, Enron, Wall Street, Big Banks, Massey Mining, etc. All put $$ over lives and the well being of our country. All of them. Who do you trust?
These kind of shows started shortly after the civil rights movement of the '60, and were directed at "liberals" for bringing about the change in the "American way of life", "hippies" for their lifestyle choices, and the veiled attacks on minorities.
It's possible for people to have grown up listening to these shows and accept them as the truth and not what they more likely are: rich, racist people with an agenda.
Clear as mud.
Let's try this: It's not the 'conservative' label that is the problem. EVERYbody 'conserves' ~ environmentally, fiscally... The problem is that descriptive word "the RIGHT".
The "RIGHT" (as in political leaning) believes they are RIGHT (as in morally) because they are named such. "I'm RIGHT leaning, so therefore, I am RIGHT" .... "I'm LEFT leaning, so therefore, I am LEFT" Semantics ~ such a useful tool to learn...
Safety nets, gov. assistance is fine, but at some point it can bring us all down. There have to be limits and sometimes those limits cause hardship for some, but we cannot provide unlimited assistance to all, we cannot make everyone financially equal at a suitable level. Life isn't fair. We as a nation need to make sure everyone has the right to succeed or fail based on their efforts, we don't have the responsibility to make sure everyone succeeds. We need to look at our regulations and laws and determine which make sense and which are over burdensome and don't do as intended. Punish corruption and fraud, promote equal treatment and justice.
i ask one question, who are you and "yours"? Just family? Your 3rd cousin? Your neighbor? The man in Arizona who is a legitimate citizen who is asked fro his papers because of how he looks? The factory worker that go laid off by no fault of their own, and is now being forced to take a $7.50/hr job to feed the family. What about the countless millions that have been utterly financially ruined because of "the best health care system in the world"? Which of those people are "You and yours", and where would you draw the line on how much help they need?
I would pose that "yours" is your spouse and kids, family etc, but it is also "We the People". And we are a better nation when we are all strong, not just the privileged or those in the best position to provide for themselves.
For me, my family is immediate family(wife, kids), brothers, parents, grandparents, cousins and friends first. Then when and if they are taken care of I will look to further assistance for neighbors. Right now, my "family" is taken care of so I donate time and money to a variety of causes. But, I choose who and when I donate. Currently I spend 5-10 hours a week doing book keeping for a non-profit, I donate money to several charities that do cancer research as well as some that help military families and I donate to the fireman and police funds.
If "we the people" take care of ourselves, "we the people" don't need others to take care of us.
There will always be situations where people need extra assistance and that's fine, I don't have a problem with safety nets, one day I may need one. I have problems when we are constantly asked to give and give and yet there are estimates that $500 billion can be recovered from Medicare by tracking down fraud and waste. That's one program, how about Defense, FDA, FCC, SEC, Dept. of Interior, State Dept, Education, how much can we save or recover if we address waste and fraud from all of government. When all of that is addressed then come see me about more money.
I personally think you are being way to kind to the Far Right but I get your drift.
I also could not agree more that it is best to have a balance between conservative and liberal. And most American know this but we are assaulted by Political Advertising that makes Coke or McDonalds look like a mom an pop store. It is all about Marketing and the Right it great at it.
We actually fire up voters because of issues like Abortion or Gay Marriage but most people don't care enough about the wars or the wiretapping or even the Corporate takeover of our government to go out an vote.
From my perspective, that doesn’t sound much like the current crop of right wing ideologues, nor is it inconsistent with a liberal point of view. It seems that what passes for conservatism these days is limited to extreme, unrealistic views.
Conservatives- real conservatives- are necessary to make transition less painful and more acceptable to the population. A smooth transition is what democracy is all about, the change of regime for the times without the destabilization and damage that comes from revolution.
But these conservatives we're seeing now... They aren't real conservatives. They aren't trying to protect what's good in the past. They're trying to bring into being a "past" that is a figment of their collective imagination. This new conservative philosophy (a few decades old, I guess) is not about stability and preservation.
The new conservatism is radicalism. It's about destroying the foundation of society, taking insane risk. It makes liberals like me sound like... real conservatives. I find myself not arguing for social programs because of social justice, but arguing against their destruction for the sake of stable society!
As a result, I can't say balance with these particular types of conservatives is good. The real conservatives are now moderates in both parties. The right-wing radicals want something alien from any real American society.
Their philosophy should be crushed and destroyed.
You see? They're turning US into conservatives?!