GOP to Protest Mom and Apple Pie

It's been a fascinating progression to watch.

First, we saw Republicans upset that the President of the United States told school children to study hard and stay in school.

Then we saw them angrily deploring that the American President won the Nobel Prize for peace.

And now, we see conservatives topping even themselves, as they actually complain about the President calling for Americans to volunteer and do good acts for others.

If this keeps up, they are going to put The Onion out of business. We're reaching the point where it's becoming impossible to know whether a headline about the GOP is real or a parody.

Mind you, none of this even includes things like claiming the President is a secret Muslim, an actual terrorist, a socialist, fascist, a Nazi, was born in Kenya, wants to kill old people, and criticized the U.S. Constitution in his senior thesis. No, these get left out because they're merely crazed rumors from fevered minds. Child's play in the larger world of lunacy.

But these other pronouncements are in an impressive class by themselves. Not mere mind-numbing rumors but rather meticulously detailed positions. Presented by acknowledged conservative analysts attempting to make convincing points.

At times, it's hard to tell whether to laugh or cry. Cringing tends to win out.

Volunteerism? They're against volunteerism? I know that neocons have claimed that reality has no hold on them and that they are free to create their own reality. But when you've lost all sense of even your own fake reality, you've done something very special. In a hypocritical, disingenuous, mean-spirited sort of way.

Forget that both Barack Obama and Republican John McCain both campaigned on behalf of volunteering during the last election.

Forget that one of the most famous orations in American history is President John Kennedy calling out for volunteerism in his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

(Side note: he later created the Peace Corps.)

Forget that the first President George Bush promoted a concept for volunteerism he called "A Thousand Points of Light."

(Side note: he created a government program for it when he was in office.)

Bonus fun fact: here's what President George Bush said in his inaugural address:

I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies.

And then he added, "The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in."

Forget the Golden Rule, as well: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Forget even the Bible, Luke 6:35: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great."

Forget, too, that --

Wait, no, don't forget all those. It's the very point. It's there in U.S. history. It's there in mankind's culture. It's there even for the far right Christian conservatives, in the Bible. Volunteer, it's a good thing for America. It's the word of the Lord.

And for good measure, that's that whole "Love your enemies" thingy, too.

This is all just pathetic. Conservatives coming out against volunteering, against world peace, against telling children to study hard in school.

Against health care.

You almost expect to hear that conservatives are protesting "Hug a Puppy Day."

But this is no accidental twist in the space-time continuum. This is the pattern of conservatives in American history. Railing against pretty much all things that are basic to human dignity and decency.

Against Social Security. Medicare. Civil Rights. Raising the minimum wage. A 40-hour work week.

When you look at this larger perspective, then suddenly their being against studying, helping others, peace, and good health for everyone no longer seems so surprising. It's just all part of a long, established pattern. Part of what "I've got mine, you're on your own, bucko" conservatism is, at heart. (If I can be so bold as to use the word, "heart.")

There are times it's appropriate to be conservative. There are conservative issues that have been beneficial. (Enterprise economic zones, for one.) As a personal standard, being conservative often offers important guideposts.

But as a core political philosophy for the benefit of mankind, it is a disaster.

Government exists for one reason: protecting the common good. Conservatism, however, as they show time and again, exists to protect those who have theirs.

When George W. Bush (the second one) ran for president, he hoodwinked a portion of the gullible public into believing that he was a "compassionate conservative." For all the proper things that a conservative outlook can bring, "compassion" is not one of them.

Compassionate conservative. The expression is one of life's great oxymorons.

With emphasis on the last two syllables.

Comments

[aofh]

"When you look at this larger perspective...'I've got mine, you're on your own, bucko' conservatism is, at heart. (If I can be so bold as to use the word, 'heart.')"

I'd say it is more "You can't tell me what to do," and this is what too often passes for conservatism in America. It's the kind of thing younger siblings are saying all of the time when they are about seven years old. There comes a time when you have to put away your childish things.

[LWS]

aofh,

You should read my post further down.

In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., describes coercive methods used to alter the thoughts of individuals without their knowledge, these techniques were used on prisoners of war in Korea and China.

1: Loading the Language. Words and phrases used as thought-terminating jargon.
Republicans become ‘neocons,” and their reasoned debate is characterized as “merely crazed rumors from fevered minds. Child's play in the larger world of lunacy,” or are labled “hypocritical, disingenuous, mean-spirited …”-- effectively dehumanizing the opposition. This allows hate speech equal to a racist assault.

[WellTickleMeWillie]

"claiming the President is a secret Muslim, an actual terrorist, a socialist, fascist, a Nazi, was born in Kenya, wants to kill old people, and criticized the U.S. Constitution in his senior thesis." No, these get left out because they're merely crazed rumors from fevered minds. Child's play in the larger world of lunacy.

Haven't you just stated the platform for the 2012 presidential election of the Party of No?

[noaxe397]

Mr Elisberg, read the comments all about this site and you will see conservatives commenting that government is trying to take their money and other people want to steal from them.

Conservatives believe they must protect and defend themselves from society because conservatism is based on the Hobbesian notion that man is essentially evil and the only true role of government is control (police and military.)

Liberalism is based on enlightenment principle that man is essentially good and the function of government is to help man achieve his true potential.

It is often said a big difference between the politiking of the black churches in the 50s-60s and the white evangelical churches today is that the black churches wanted to include and the white churches want to exclude.

So, today the Republican Part is 80% white and christian and they like it that way. Black folk are almost all Deomcratic leaninig, but only one of many constituents of that party, the party of inclusion along the lines of liberal philosophy.

LIberalism is almost like a SECULAR version of true Chritianity as taught by the real Lord and not the phony gods of the the current day movement.

[normathumb]

I agree with many of his points re: the shambles remaining of the Republican party. What is there, today, is so far from the party of Reagan or the party of the elder Bush, (Those were different parties from one another.) I know many conservatives who put time and money into charities because they believe that is how things are supposed to work. I know many self described "progressives" who think somebody (else) ought to do something. I believe government has a necessary role to play, beyond protecting property rights of wealthy corporations. The old saw about absolute power corrupting applies in all aspects of an unregulated society. From the old savings and loan scandal of the 80's to Enron to the mortgage crisis, we can witness what an unregulated economy leads to, The flaw, or blind spot, if you will, in Alan Greenspan's assumptions that he only recognized after the start of the current economic episode.

[Eggsackley]

The elder President Bush was compassionate, at least when compared with Reagan and his son. When he spoke of a "kinder, gentler nation" , he meant it. He did good work in removing a lot of the roadblocks that Reagan had created to keep disabled workers from getting social security. Under Reagan the processing of claims through to the hearing stage kept getting longer and longer until it took well over a year from the time that a hearing was requested to the actual hearing. And, the appeals council he appointed reviewed and reversed sound decisions granting claims with decisions so ridiculous that the conservative Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals awarded attorney fees against the government in one case because the government attorneys came into court and tried to defend one of their indefensible decisions.
Under the elder Bush, the time between requesting and getting a hearing dropped substantially,. It rose substantially during his son's tenure and now takes over a year again because of the case backlog. I do see signs that the process is speeding up again under the current administration.

[LWS]

I'm not sure who was in office had anything to do with the backlog. I filed in 2003 and it took four years before I had my day in court.

[RobinLandseadel]

The elder Bush was a CIA operative.

[LWS]

In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., describes coercive methods used to alter the thoughts of individuals without their knowledge, these techniques were used on prisoners of war in Korea and China.

1: Loading the Language. Words and phrases used as thought-terminating jargon.
Republicans become ‘neocons,” and their reasoned debate is characterized as “merely crazed rumors from fevered minds. Child's play in the larger world of lunacy,” or are labled “hypocritical, disingenuous, mean-spirited …”-- effectively dehumanizing the opposition. This allows hate speech equal to a racist assault.

2:Sacred Science. Liberal doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. (i.e. "The debate is over!") Factual evidence is not required to condemn a Republican, only a bald assertion.

3:Doctrine over person. Denial of personal experiences and opinions of those outside the group. Factual evidence opposing Liberal position is denied. I am a Disabled American, my experiences with medical care contradict Liberal assertions -- my factual accounts are dismissed and denied.

4:Erasing existence. Those in the (Liberal) group have a right to exist, others do not. Outsiders are less than human, or unenlightened, or unconscious -- erased as human beings from the groups reality. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility.

[jawbreaker1]

thats how we felt from 2000 to 2008

[LWS]

What????

[huff reader]

Ya know? I should really be a Republican...I believe in fiscal responsibility, both in government and personal life. I believe in personal responsibility. And freedom. I believe in the individual. I believe in free markets. I believe n hard work. I believe big government can be wasteful (although government is necessary, and can do things that can't be 'privatized'). And on, and on...but, then, I look and see what Republicans do/have done that is so totally contradictory to these philosophical points.

Even worse...We read and hear all this crap, all these OBVIOUS lies, all the hate, all the spew from the Republican Party and the rest of the right.

The result? Frankly, it has gotten to the point where I don't believe anything at all I hear from any source that I can determine is right of center at first blush. Why? Because of all the garbage they are continually spewing, the right has lost all credibility. So it takes an argument with real data that I can'tt refute, before I listen.

The problem is twofold: (1) the introduction of continuous lying into this stream of information we all have to have to make decisions calls into doubt ALL information we get (which I think may be the intent), and (2) conservative thought (no, that's not really an oxymoron) is bound to be ignored in real political debate.

The result is VERY destructive for this country and democracy, itself.

Sad.

[Eggsackley]

I was once of Young Republican for the same reasons you say you should be a Republican. I was at the same time a member of the ACLU which I see as the most effective organization working to conserve our Constitutional Rights. Then one of Reagan's first acts as President was to declare a "Year of the Bible" I am now a registered independent voter and a Member of the ACLU.
As for free markets, there is no such thing in the financial sector any more because of the excessive power of the big banks, insurers, and predatory financiers. Only the government can restore and maintain a free financial market where individuals can invest with confidence that the companies they invest in wont be bought and destroyed by predatory financiers. I am also dismayed by the cap and save approach to environmental protection. Why create such a boondoggle when a carbon tax would be a more rational free market approach? But the Republicans would not support anything like that which would interfere with businesses looting the environment at the expense of our future,..

[Alexandre Laudet]

No one likes it when the "other side" comes up with a good idea that makes them look good AND makes sense... that's the only plausible explanation to these otherwise totally blafflng reactions from the right...

[Liberal Angel]

Conservatives yell about anything. They're so irrelevant to progress in history, that's all they can do. They try to stand against the tide of history and yell "stop!", while it just crests over them. Conservatism is such a useless ideology. If your ideology compels you to protest a message to kids from the POTUS to work hard and stay in school, you need to check yourself into rehab.

[Soulsurfer]

They yell because they're scared...........of change, people of color, the irrelevance of their religion, you name it. Their leaders know this, and use it shamelessly.

[goodtomeetyou]

Excellent article. Thank you.

Fox News is Not Just Biased -- It's a Cult
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryant-welch/fox-news-is-not-just-bias_b_337961.html

[blizb]

Reagan "trickle down" economics didn't work and Bush/Cheney had 8 years of bad policies, and these are the figures conservatives supported and still continue to defend.

What part of the "middle class" do they support?

They have voted against everything, only their opposition to healthcare is prominent but if you look at how they have been voting and the issues and appointments they have been blocking it is plain to see they want no progress of any kind for the middle class or for Americans in general.

As long as this keeps being reminded to the public they will still have difficulty in the next 2 elections since they now have a record that is public.

We can see how they voted, see what they blocked, see how partisan they are and how they politically cling to ideology or party line instead of doing what is right for the middle class.

[jan4insight]

Conservatives "railing against pretty much all things that are basic to human dignity and decency."

Thank you for that statement. I have had these same thoughts for some time, but I hadn't been able to express it as eloquently and succinctly as you have, sir.

[Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger]

This line of attack comes from the unholy union of the Ayn Rand cult and the prosperity gospel of charismatic Christian conservatives.

[jan4insight]

Here's an extremely interesting review of the sources that influenced Ayn Rand in the development of her John Galt & other "heroes" :

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=15174

[bdaved]

You ought to read what Kim Newman did to Ayn Rand in his book "Bad Dreams". It ain't pretty.

[mcole]

yay! cheer! rah!

and all of that.

for me, i've totally given up. if the republicans dont get trounced in the elections over the next few years, then i guess it says much more about the state of the american mind.

[honoursplendor]

"neocons have claimed that reality has no hold on them" --- 'nuff said!

[Cea80]

Ah, I remember the compassionate conservatism mantra. Turned out it to be a euphemism for crazy neocon.