The Continued Failure of Conservatism

When Barack Obama announced his science advisors, and four of them where experts in climate change, it actually brought tears to my eyes. Imagine science advisors who are no political ideologues with no regard for truth! At last we have a leader who is responsible to the real needs of the people and the earth we live on! We may survive as a species yet!
    That the Bush administration viewed climate change and human influence on it as a "liberal issue," and not only ignored it but threw up barriers to progress, is, to me, unforgivable. I worriy about the integrity of the American people for putting up with this. It seems that radical conservatives never seem able to admit they are wrong and then do the right thing, no matter what. Even now there are conservatives advocating more deregulation of Wall Street! They will not be satisfied until our entire way of life is destroyed, and even then they will find some way to blame liberals.
    I recently watched a segment of Fox News and heard their financial expert, Neil Cavuto, saying the government should just let the American auto industry fail as market forces are leading them to do. When the subject of millions of people losing their jobs was repeatedly mentioned, he brushes this aside by saying "That's a concern, but…" and then went on to bolster his compassionless argument. The obvious subtext of what he was saying was "That's a concern, but who cares? Let it fail. Let millions of people lose their jobs during a broken economy. Let's bring on a real Depression. At least conservative values will win the day." He says this, of course, knowing that the president has already authorized a bailout. Whats' his point other than aggitating trouble?
    Cavuto's argument stands without concern for consequences. He offers no positive solution or direction. He merely tears down what many consider the only hope of finding a solution. Conservatives seems totally committed to fighting anything that might threaten old thinking profiteering. He is defending devastating errors by simply bad-mouthing alternatives. This phenomenon, among conservatives speakers, is normal.
    As for real conservative values, what exactly is it is it that he and others are defending? They may not see them this way, but if you define conservative values according to their policies and practices over the last 20 years, they would look like these:

• Deregulation needs to continue, despite any degree of corruption it fosters or systemic failure. The line has been drawn. We support greed over the protection of our citizens no matter what the cost, and don't care about the results.
  
• War is good as long as we are winning. It makes us look strong, and that's good for our collective ego.
  
• The bloated, ever-expanding national debt is acceptable despite our published rhetoric, as long as we can lower taxes for the wealthy and somehow blame liberals when our own policies fail.
  
• Human contribution to global warming is not real, no matter what scientists say, and we have purposely altered a lot of scientific evidence to prove it.
  
• Since we have nothing positive to say, we have to remain negative. Hence our modus operandi. As long as people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity make a lot of money promoting angry propaganda for our cause, we will dupe people into our ranks. Thanks, Rush and Sean —- and Mike and Ann and Glenn, and all the rest. We may not respect you, but we love that you're on our side.
  
• Religious leaders are just as corruptible as corporate CEOs, and bring in lots of votes. As long as we promise to follow their agendas (we don't really have to deliver), they will help us by "bringing in the (political) sheaths."
  
• The old maxim of "divide and conquer" works well in politics. By dividing the nation, and insisting on party loyalty over public-interest and common sense, we are able to win elections. That most of the nation might disagree with us doesn't matter.
  
• Winning by a single vote is enough to confers an ideological mandate. The only trouble is that when we get the power that we want and really screw things up, some people forget party loyalties and vote us out of office. No matter, history shows that we can always win them back.
  
• Denying rights for some people, especially when racial or sexual prejudice is involved, helps our cause. That we may have to eat humble pie a few years down the road doesn't matter. Since our base is the last to turn around, they understand, and will never hold us accountable.
  
• When our opponents work to fix government, use every means possible to stop them. Repeat lies. Insist on guilt by association. Remind people of the evils of government. Downplay the evils of corporate and political corruption. Make intelligence look threatening. Bring out shamed political hacks from the past (Tom Delay? Newt Gingrich?) and make them look like heroes. When you speak the names of your opponents, use a disdainful tone of voice that suggests far more than it means. People respond to that, even when it is against their own self-interest.
  
• Boil everything down to liberal taxes and giveaways, no matter how much money we give to our friends.
• Make sure that our representative government, in other words our government of, by and for the people, looks inefficient, burdensome and even sinister. Nothing plays into the building of an oligarchy than sowing mass distrust of democracy. Call it patriotism.
  
• Wedge issues keep us in power. Make sure that they generate as much social venom as they can, and are never solved.
  
• As long as I feel self-righteous and have a bags of clichés to defend myself, nothing else matters. I don't have to find real answers. The nation and the world can go to hell.
  
• Whenever possible, invoke Ronald Reagan. With his movie star charm and assuring smile, he taught us that as Americans, it is acceptable to discard compassion toward our fellow citizens. Simplistic answers that bolster pride and greed are fine. Poor people must want to be poor. If innocent casualties of war don't like being maimed and killed, they should have lived elsewhere. If gays want equal rights, they should stop being gay. If atheists fear a religious takeover, they should convert before it is too late. If the middle class does not like the way the wealthy are taking over, they should become wealthy themselves. Imagine a nation of wealthy people, with subservient immigrants doing all the dirty work. If minorities do not fit in, well, surprise! That's why we call them minorities.

Conservatives have convinced themselves that government is the enemy. They are talking about our government. The America they also tell us to be proud of. They then make sure that it is our enemy, and then have the gall of calling themselves patriots. When Vice-President Dick Cheney scoffs at public opinion polls, he is scoffing at public opinion — our opinion. The people he is supposed to represent. He doesn't scoff at the opinions of corporate CEOs who want to rip us off. By elevating corporate leaders into a new aristocracy, while disregarding public need, he and those like him have become antagonists of democracy itself.
    Conservatives openly admitted that they disrespect and distrust government. Why is it that they want control over it? How does someone honorably lead something they don't respect? Poorly, of course. This might explain the failures of the National Republican Party over the last few decades, and how they opened our government to lobbyists and corruption on an unprecedented scale.
    While it might seem that the danger of conservative politics is my greatest fear, it actually takes a close second to the corruption of liberalism that seems to be following in its wake. If liberalism becomes infected with the same contagious mindset of its opponent, as it has already to some extent, the same strategies and tactics, the future of this nation and the world, looks grim.

Return