Conservatism in a nutshell...

[kpete]

[redstatebluegirl]

1. Love this!

[bluecollar2]

2. Kick...n/t

[kairos12]

3. George Wallace ran on this idea.

[empedocles]

4. The ghost of George Wallace looms to this day.

Last edited Fri Oct 5, 2018, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)

I remember being surprised, when George ['nigra' fame] Wallace ran for President on national tv in 1968, at the excitement of his rallies , [compared somewhat dramatically to Nixon/Humphrey rallies].

Seemed like those rally goers were really excited at having someone they identified with - 'nigras', 'pointy headed bureaucrats with peanut butter sandwiches in their briefcases', etc., etc., Wallace had bowels full of those insults - as does . . . trump.

[DownriverDem]

30. Wallace ran as

a Democrat. Yuck. Now I hope folks that keep saying that both parties are the same are paying attention. It's what they stand for that will be pretty clear, pretty soon.

[Andy823]

5. K&R

Well said.

[SkipG]

6. ...and most likely receiving your tax money.

[George II]

7. Many years ago, when conservatism was an ideological position without this hateful aspect...

...that we have today, I said that liberals and conservatives have the same basic objective.

But conservatives do it by trying to suppress the bad in people, liberals do it by reinforcing the good in people.

That obviously is no longer true.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. once upon a time

"Conservative" meant you didn't want changes any faster than the public could handle. It didn't mean, no changes; it didn't mean regression. It also meant that government should make no changes without considering the consequences.

We've fallen a long way.

[Lanius]

25. Now conservatism is about bringing out the bad in people.

Republicans appeal to humanity's worst impulses (fear, resentment, hate, aggression) to motivate their aging white base to vote.

It will be interesting to see if the GOP tries to reinvent itself in the next 10-20 years, as the demographics really start changing in this country. Who is going to believe them?

[George II]

26. Yes indeed. As long as you're white, male, abused by a white male, or fearful of a white male.

[lastlib]

33. The question "What are conservatives trying to conserve?" has been answered:

1) Wealth for the wealthy;
2) Power for the powerful;
3) Comfort for the comforttable;
4) Poverty for the poor;
5) Affliction for the afflicted.
Everything else be damned.

[elmac]

8. There is no longer a conservative party

they are now a fascist party, fascism has taken over the GOP.

[Cosmocat]

10. F U L L O N

As a party, 100%.

The meme does strike at the heart of how the cull the people around us into giving them the power to do what they are doing.

[DownriverDem]

31. How we know them?

they'd be waving a flag and carrying a bible.

[Cosmocat]

9. Drop mic ...

nm

[calimary]

11. Another OUTSTANDING graphic.

I’m kicking it here, and keeping it in my graphics file.

[packman]

13. Funny - Many decades ago I was taught that Puritans were people who

Believed that somewhere, somehow , someone is enjoying their lives. It was a tongue in cheek thing to explain the strict moral code of the Puritans.

[LAS14]

14. I wish we had another word. Conservative used to be...

... a word that defined people with a different economic, judicial, and governmental philosophy than us. Conservatives at their best were people that thought there were better ways to achieve the common good than ours. (They were mistaken, of course, but there you go.) We could agree on the goal and disagree on the means to achieve it. Now that the GOP has been so totally overtaken by deplorables (yes, Hillary, that's the right word), there's no place for the remnants to go. That's why I'm reluctant to give the deplorables ownership of the word "conservative." We need to preserve the idea of a loyal opposition.

Other than that, spot on characterization of the deplorables.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. Total adulteration of both the word and ideology by...

a massive influx of money and support by greedy psychopathic billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, the Koch brothers, Adelson and the Mercers that have changed the Party into a cult.

As you said, since the 60s I've always understood but disagreed with their basic philosophy, although it was frequently foreshadowed by their hatred of progressive taxation. Back then it was trumpeted often by Bob Dole on the news.

Much of my resentment is toward those millions of old-fashioned conservatives (mostly small and medium-size business owners) that have stood by and watched this transformation in virtual silence. And, I deplore their co-opting of the churches.

I suppose this simply proves the pure raw power of human selfishness, greed, fear and hubris.....

[LAS14]

21. Well said. Thanks. nt

[treestar]

15. Yep.

And that most people do not recognize their superiority.

[Grins]

16. Mine...

I've been reading about governing and conservatism* for a couple of decades. A bit snippy but here is mine and I think it fits better:

"If you get more, that means I get less."

And by "more", it doesn't have to be money, it could easily be voting or civil rights. "His" right to vote makes my vote worthless. Or, at a minimum, neutered.

In James L. Swanson's book "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer" (about John Wilkes Booth, a book that reads like a novel), Swanson quotes Booth. In a speech Lincoln expressed a desire that the southern states would extend the vote to literate blacks. Booth stood in the audience for that speech, and: “That means nigger citizenship,” he told Lewis Powell, one of his band of conspirators. A former black slave's vote would neuter his; i.e., he gets more so I get less.

* Another good book I'd recommend on conservatism is Corey Robin's 2012 book, “The Reactionary Mind.” I found it via a column by Paul Krugman.

[tblue37]

34. Corey Robin's website is coreyrobin.com. He posts a lot of good essays on

subjects near and dear to our hearts.

[Jersey in OKC]

17. Going Forward

I haven't enough posts to start a new thread, but I thought to myself; how I feel about music or bands' lyrics in terms of context. Some weren't so nice now, but acceptable then. What now?

[KY_EnviroGuy]

19. K&R and welcome to DU.

It is amazing how wisdom usually comes with age if we stay open minded and well informed!....

[Jersey in OKC]

23. Thank you Enviro Guy

To me, this month opened a tertiary thought to what I thought about the arts, like with music, reading, art, etc. This month highlighted how male dominated even U.S. arts and culture is, in retrospect. I'm not discounting anyone's contribution, but I now realise the hurdles women have faced, if that makes any sense?

[Jersey in OKC]

20. Going Forward

I welcome your opinions, as I'm curious. [e-mail].

[samplegirl]

22. I say there is no such thing as

Conservatism.... it’s long been gone. Now it’s Red verses Blue!

[Jersey in OKC]

24. @samplegirl

Unfortunately, I live in OKC. I consistently vote big D each time, but for my constituency is going to take time. It's disappointing, but someday I hope I become the majority of voters. 😕

[DBoon]

27. We are the conservative party

We wish to conserve civil liberties, the right to a jury trial, the right to legal representation and the continued abolition of "cruel and unusual punishment" (torture)

We wish to conserve the gains of the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the suffragettes and modern feminist movements

We wish to conserve the natural resources of our great country, folowing the Republican Teddy Roosevelt

We want to conserve social security, medi-care, food supplements, and other programs that help the needy

The current Republican Party is the radical party. They wish to destroy all this and replace it with a dictatorship of the wealthy.

We want to keep what is great about America.

They want to turn us into 1920s Italy, 1970s Chile, or Russia as it exists today

[sprinkleeninow]

32. Isn't that something. That we are, in essence, the party of 'conserve'

and 'they' could be viewed as the radical ones.

Just the contrary of how we Dems get labeled.

They're more so elitist and radical presently. All that they try to stick on us is really them personified.

When I see the word 'conserve', it brings to mind the preserving of fruits, nutmeats, flavorings and sugar that makes an extraordinary 'jam'.

[vi5]

28. But yeah, let's all continue to pretend there are "decent conservatives"...

...or "conservatives of conscience". Folks like Susan Collins.

And yes, let's definitely continue to put all of our eggs in that basket and in service of maybe possibly, please maybe peeling off some of these cretinous, mouth breathing troglodytes who count themselves among their numbers.

And also, let's continue pretending "values voters" and "evangelicals" are anything other than evil scum and that maybe if we just pretend to be more pious and more concerned with falling in line with their definition of "life" and "morality" that just maybe some of them might vote for our candidates.

[dchill]

36. You are being too nice!

[Sarg]

29. A most succinct definition.

[dchill]

35. Corollary: An intense belief that someone is out to get...

what you swindled them out of.