On Conservatism

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I need to get this off my chest.

Political conservatism is defined, in general, as favoring policies that preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or restore traditional ones, and that limit change in general. This is a respectable and occasionally useful position to take, if only to force Liberals to defend our ideas and to develop policy that is more practical and financially realistic.

Over the last 30 years, however, starting with the Reagan administration and continuing up to the present day, conservatism has morphed into an unholy alliance of religious fundamentalists and other social conservatives, corporatists (who claim to be free market fundamentalists but in fact are perfectly happy with monopolistic practices), and a conservative press that may or may not believe what they are saying but are happy to say anything at all if powerful interests pay them to do so.

It goes without saying that today’s Republican party is completely dominated by these perverse groups and has absolutely no interest in improving the lot of the American people in general, much less the human race as a whole. The Democrats, while often open to reasonable ideas, include a minority of so-called “moderates” who are usually less dogmatic than the absolutist Republicans, but are completely beholden to corporate interests due to the legalized bribery and corruption allowed by our current campaign finance laws.

The result of these people having political power is today’s intractable problems. They were all either caused by conservative policies or are nearly impossible to address effectively because of conservative opposition. Here is what I mean.

Global Climate Change

All of us bear responsibility for creating and participating in our current petroleum-based energy economy. It has become obvious only in the last 20 years or so that the carbon dioxide we have been pouring into the atmosphere will ultimately result in environmental catastrophe. Who is preventing the U.S. from seriously addressing a problem that could be the death of us all? Conservatives. Who is spreading misinformation and outright lies on the subject? Conservatives. Who treats the entire ethos of environmentalism with contempt? Conservatives.

The Financial Crisis

The financial crisis of 2008 was caused in large part by free market fundamentalists who were responsible for rolling back regulations in place since the Great Depression (with important assistance from Bill Clinton) and for refusing to enforce existing regulation. The resulting anarchy on Wall Street, enabled by the Ayn Rand enthusiasts at the Federal Reserve and in Congress, had tragic consequences for Americans of all ages. The young adults of today will be hobbled financially for decades and may never achieve their full earning potential.

In addition to causing this horrible and entirely avoidable debacle, conservatives are now working hard to prevent the government from doing anything about it. Any proposal made by the President to help those most damaged by conservative policies is opposed unanimously by congressional Republicans and only grudgingly consented to by conservative Democrats.

To sum up: conservatives are responsible creating the problem. Who is attempting to block all efforts to fix the problem? Conservatives.

Health Care

Those responsible for watering down and trying to kill reform of the health care system are all conservatives. Republicans are, of course, hopeless in this area and are perfectly happy sacrificing 45000 Americans annually to keep profits and bonuses high for insurance company executives. Conservative Democrats are equally immoral but are slightly more amenable to reason. Ultimately, however, they will likely opt to keep their corporate paymasters happy and reject reform that puts patients first.

So who is in favor of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year for corporate profit? Conservatives.

War

Who deceived and manipulated the American people into consenting to a disastrous war of choice in Iraq? Conservatives. Who prosecuted the war in such a way that tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis died? Conservatives.

Who let the war in Afghanistan drag on for years without any particular strategy or well-defined goal? Conservatives.

Who made torture an instrument of national policy for the first time in the history of the United States to the shame of us all and the delight of our enemies? Conservatives. Who decided American citizens could be arrested and held without trial for years based on the President’s whim? Conservatives.

National Debt

Who inherited a balanced budget from the Clinton administration and proceeded to spend billions on useless wars and huge tax cuts for the rich resulting in massive deficit spending? Conservatives. Who now opposes any legislation to help the unemployed on the grounds that it adds to the deficit? Conservatives.

Racism and Homophobia

From the days of slavery through Jim Crow and the current racist images of President Obama, who are and have been the most virulent racists in the U.S.? Who strenuously opposed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and clearly favor continued second class status for African-Americans? You guessed it. Conservatives, of course.

Who opposes gay marriage and spreads the vicious myth that other peoples’ marriages would be threatened if gay people had equal rights? Which group of prominent politicians seems to include the greatest number of self-hating gay men who make a career out of opposing gay rights? That’s right: Conservatives.

Anti-Intellectualism

Who favors dumbing down high school science classes by including biblically based anti-evolution material? Who consistently favors ideology over well-established scientific conclusions (see global warming)? Who is against sex education and contraception resulting in the spread of disease, teen pregnancies, and untold misery? Who is against funding public education at all levels by continually advocating budget cuts for secondary schools and universities and rejecting school levies? Conservatives. Who thinks science is just another religion? Conservatives.

Guns

The carnage on the streets of our cities is a direct result of the presence of millions of cheap guns throughout the country. 30000 Americans die annually from gunshot wounds. Who opposes any attempt to deal with this obscenity? Conservatives.

In Summary

All of today’s major problems are rooted in conservative policies and conservative influence. Maybe we should do something about that. How about reforming the campaign finance laws to outlaw corporate influence? How about making all news outlets balance liberal and conservative viewpoints in their coverage? How about improving education to minimize the number of ignorant rednecks?

Oh wait, we can’t do any of that because conservatives control Congress. Never mind.