A thought experiment re "conservatives"

[Cary]

Suppose it were to dawn on your average "conservative" that they were wrong. Ayn Rand was wrong. "Supply-side economics" is wrong. George W. Bush was wrong and he lied us into war. Mitt Romney is wrong. Paul Ryan is wrong.

Never mind, for the purposes of this thought experiment, how this average "conservative" came to realize that he or she was wrong. They just woke up one morning with this revelation.

What would your average "conservative" do next? Would it matter to him or her that he or she was wrong? Would he or she just go on, business as usual, in spite of this revelation? Or would they go out and objectively seek a whole new understanding of their world?

[Kalidurga]

1. This conservative would sign up on DU lurk around get more enlightenment...

change parties and be horrified he ever or she ever believed anything the GOP said. I don't think the scenario is possible. But, I do think the one Akin is showing us is very possible and likely. A republican says something incredibly stupid and insensitive. The conservative starts to question other beliefs that republicans and conservatives have, after several painful days, weeks, or months a light shines through and they change parties.

[Cary]

3. The point of a thought experiment is to ponder things that may not be possible

I am trying to isolate a specific variable or two by fixing the rest.

Thanks for your answer. I have to think on it a little.

[uponit7771]

2. People tend to stick very close to percieved worlds, many of them ALREADY know they're wrong

...and it's hard for them to change their minds

[Cary]

4. That's one of the variables I'm trying to isolate

I have noticed that "conservatives" are a priori which means they begin and end with the understanding that they are correct regardless of any empirical evidence to the contrary. Certainly this is imbedded in Ayn Rand. I have also encountered recidivist Catholic sect adherents who believe their word is the word of God.

[Blue Meany]

7. It doesn't work like you described. They first stretch their

paradigms to the limit, step by step, and only gradually does it collapse under the weight of contradictions.

E.g., they will perhaps conclude the G. W. Bush made some bad decisions that hurt the country, but decide they occured when he deviated from right wing orthodoxy.

[Cary]

9. But what if it did work as I described?

They simply woke up, enlightened. What would they do?

[Blue Meany]

11. I guess it would be the way we would react if we woke up

realizing Tea Bagger's were right. Some manifestation of shock, perhaps suicide.

[Cary]

14. If teabaggers were right

Then we could impose world peace with just a few splendid little wars and we could create more tax revenue simply by cutting taxes. Sugarplim fairies would solve all of our problems.

What would be better than that? If I woke up and we weren't on the Great Republican Depression II and if corporations didn't really pose a threat to our Democracy and if all I had to do was let lassaize faire capitalism be what it is, ...

[FAHQ69_7]

5. They Become "Lone Wolfs"

pumped up on RW HAte Radio.

[Aerows]

6. They know that they are wrong

It just benefits them to perpetuate such ideas, so they will perpetuate them to kingdom come. It's not about being right for them - it's about being on top. They could care less if what they say or how they behave is the truth - all that matters is that they reach the top by any means necessary.

[Cary]

8. There are some of these, yes, to top 1%

But these aren't your average "conservative" are they? There are too many "conservatives" to fit them all in the category of the top 1%, the ones who actually profit from pushing "conservative" bullshit. And too I have run into true believers who clearly do this "conservative" thing to their own detriment. They have something else going--some kind of cocktail of hatred of "Liberal," anti-intellectualism, bigotry, authoritarian personality, and Schadenfreude.

[Aerows]

10. I've yet to meet a conservative

That didn't believe themselves so worthy of life that they wouldn't hesitate to bring misery and horror on everyone else to preserve their status.

Not one.

[Cary]

15. Oh, I have.

It is hard to figure what makes them tick though so I could be wrong.

[Fumesucker]

12. They would do like John Cole..

Copyright note: I have standing permission to copy anything from this source to wherever I please..

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2008/03/21/my-iraq-war-retrospective/

My Iraq War Retrospective

By John Cole March 21st, 2008

I see that Andrew Sullivan was asked to list what he got wrong about Iraq for the five year anniversary of the invasion, and since I was as big a war booster as anyone, I thought I would list what I got wrong:

Everything.

And I don’t say that to provide people with an easy way to beat up on me, but I do sort of have to face facts. I was wrong about everything.

I was wrong about the Doctrine of Pre-emptive warfare.
I was wrong about Iraq possessing WMD.
I was wrong about Scott Ritter and the inspections.
I was wrong about the UN involvement in weapons inspections.
I was wrong about the containment sanctions.
I was wrong about the broader impact of the war on the Middle East.
I was wrong about this making us more safe.
I was wrong about the number of troops needed to stabilize Iraq.
I was wrong when I stated this administration had a clear plan for the aftermath.
I was wrong about securing the ammunition dumps.
I was wrong about the ease of bringing democracy to the Middle East.
I was wrong about dissolving the Iraqi army.
I was wrong about the looting being unimportant.
I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent.
I was wrong that we would be greeted as liberators.
I was wrong to make fun of the anti-war protestors.
I was wrong not to trust the dirty smelly hippies.

I mean, I could go down the list and continue on, but you get the point. I was wrong about EVERY. GOD. DAMNED. THING. It is amazing I could tie my shoes in 2001-2004. If you took all the wrongness I generated, put it together and compacted it and processed it, there would be enough concentrated stupid to fuel three hundred years of Weekly Standard journals. I am not sure how I snapped out of it, but I think Abu Ghraib and the negative impact of the insurgency did sober me up a bit.

War should always be an absolute last resort, not just another option. I will never make the same mistakes again.

[Cary]

16. Awesome!

Thanks for this. You brightened my day.

[Fumesucker]

17. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs is another conservative that saw the light..

I don't go there very often but he's pretty good too, just not as funny as Cole's krewe..

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/

John Cole is actually going to the DNC this year... With another blogger called Angry Black Lady..

It should be epic.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/08/21/so-umm-this-happened/

[Spike89]

13. All that wrong would just cause them to recalibrate

It has nothing to do with the politicians they support(ed)...as noted, they will just use the "not a true scotsman" argument. When it comes to policy, when it fails, they generally blame it on insufficient buy-in. For example, if cutting taxes doesn't fix the deficit, it was because "we didn't cut the taxes enough" or "yeah, we cut taxes, but the libruls wouldn't budge on giving the welfare queens their cadillacs".
The fundamental difference between conservatives and liberal mindsets (there are many associated differences too) is that conservative thought is based on individual meritocracy and liberal thought is based on social behaviors. Ironically, conservatives tend to be much more authoritarian (which really is a rigid social order), and liberals tend to be outside the culture (nonconformists are in a way non-social).
Those inherent contradictions can come to the fore, the teabaggers are practically the poster people for crazy (authoritarians screaming about liberties!). Us liberals have our deep ideological contradiction pretty well under control right now, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.
Anyway, to finish the thought and answer the question, the "enlightened conservative" would presumably still be a authoritarian at heart, but have a pragmatic view of the world. I don't think it means they become a liberal.

[rock]

18. I'm afraid you're confused

Conservatives don't have a value system based on right or wrong but "my way" or "the highway".