Leonard Pitts Jr: The Republican Party is no longer the party of conservatism.It's the party of fear

[babylonsister]

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article214487284.html

Leonard Pitts Jr
The Republican Party is no longer the party of conservatism. It's the party of fear.
July 07, 2018 09:28 AM

snip//

No, these days, being “conservative” means being angry and fearful at the loss of white prerogative. It means to embrace — or at the very least, tolerate, which is functionally the same thing — a new and brazen strain of white supremacy. It means to be dismissive and destructive of the norms of democratic governance. It means to willingly accept nonstop lies, intellectual vacuity and naked incompetence and pretend they are signs of stable genius. It means to be wholly in thrall to the Cult of Trump.

Small wonder GOP heavyweights like columnists George F. Will and Max Boot and campaign strategist Steve Schmidt have disavowed their party out of devotion to what conservatism used to be. Their moral courage makes neon obvious most Republicans’ lack thereof.

That said, one wonders if it will not turn out that these worthies are simply holding out on their own lonely island of principle, if conservatism’s headlong march toward fascism will not make them the ones who seem naïve 20 years down the line. But that’s their problem.

This column is about my problem, which I guess I’ve solved, though not without some regret for the days when I felt free to walk between political extremes and not declare myself. But in 2018, that’s an unaffordable luxury. In 2018, one of those extremes represents a danger as clear and present as any foreign adversary.

So yes, I am a liberal. Because I have, literally, no alternative.

[mcar]

1. Leonard Pitts is a pleasure to read

Thanks!

[Renew Deal]

2. It's been the party of fear since 2001

And realistically earlier if you lump in resentment

[Dave Starsky]

3. I remember it started with Reagan, at least.

"There's a bear in the forest..."

Funny how back then, we didn't trust the Russians.

[Tipperary]

4. "Neon obvious."

Bingo.

[Dirty Socialist]

5. My hometown newspaper dropped Pitts

😡