9 November 2005 - 4:10pm
Why modern-day conservatism makes no sense to me
Once upon a time I was a moderate. I believed in Keynesian economics. I believed in using market forces to help institute desired policy. I believed in empowering people so that they could take charge of their own lives. I believed in incentives in business and personal tax deductions and rebates. I believed that people had a right to privacy. I believed that the government should stay out of people's private lives, but that the government is needed to protect people from not just crime but from abuse through pollution and fraud. I believed in free speech.
That was then. I was a moderate.
This is now ... and I still believe all those things. But now I find myself labeled as "left."
Time was when I could look at a conservative and find some things about him/her I liked. I appreciated the talk about fiscal responsibility. I appreciated the talk about empowering individuals. I appreciated the generally positive view on the future, on opportunity, on making one's own life. I even appreciated Barry Goldwater (who was before my time), who said:
Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.
and said:
A lot of so-called conservatives don't know what the word means. They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It's not a conservative issue at all.
and even said:
The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay. You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that's what brings me into it.
Goldwater was the conservative icon. And he espoused what I understood to be conservative principles. Like him or not, there was something to be admired about Goldwater's views.
Goldwater couldn't get elected dog-catcher in today's Republican party. Today's Republicans consider conservatism to be a partisan flag that flies above the Stars and Stripes, and an ideology that calls for the State to dictate personal behavior.
Today's conservatives are for establishment of religion.
Today's conservatives are for regulating what happens in the bedroom.
Today's conservatives are for controlling what is said and done in the doctor's office.
Today's conservatives are for imposing religious doctrine like "intelligent design" upon science teaching in schools.
And all that talk about fiscal responsibility? After Reagan and the two Bushes ran up ALL national debt accrued since WW2, we know that's not true.
All that talk about optimism for the future? After all the fear-mongering and gloom and doom rhetoric we get now from conservative leaders, we know that's not true.
How can they call themselves "conservative" when they're trying to impose radical change on our country?
These modern-day conservatives
They make no sense to me
They like to tell us how to live
I wish they'd let us beThese modern-day conservatives
Are holier than thou
About your life they're positive
You must obey them nowThese modern-day conservatives
They like their power fine
They used to fight for liberty
Now you must toe the lineThese modern-day conservatives
They make no sense to me
They like to tell us how to live
But I'd rather live free.
media girl also blogs at other places.
Similar entries
store
Buy stuff here.
Comments
I call them regressive white trash confederates who want to bring a larger degree of wage slavery back and conduct a cold civil war. They don't follow the teachings of Jesus but rather the examples of Tomas de Torquemada and Ayn Rand. I beleive in capitalism but not the version of capitalism that George W Bush and his regressive white trash party believes in.
How do we get a progressive agenda done today?
The answer appears in your wallet. I imagine each of you have studied the union movement. The union movement has brought us the 40 hour work week and the minimum wage. The union movement had focused on the individual employers to get these benefits.
Today corporations have taken over the Republican party and even write the legislation that hurts ordinary people.
We need to form our own ad hoc union and instead of going on a work strike we need to go on a purchasing strike. We need to target some of the major contributors of money to the Republican party as they pull the levers of power and they have the most to lose and they can get the pressure every day instead of the officeholders that only run every 2, 4 and 6 years.
We need to go on strike against Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, GE and Exxon/Mobil.
We need to call these companies and thell them we have gone on strike against them until they get the RNC to hold a press conference announcing that they will accede to our demands of a TEN dollar an hour minimum wage, an unemployment insurance benefit that will last 1 year instead of 6 months, a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare of 80 percent coverage and no privatization of social security and increasing the social security payroll tax,removing the 88,000 dollar a year FICA taxable income limit, and vote by mail throughout the US with paper ballots and an independent civil service that registers people to vote and counts votes. We need this and more. You make the demands, you go on strike. You have the money and the Republican contributors either do as we want or they go broke under our purchasing strike.
To learn how to force the Republican congress to pass progressive legislation, send email to webmaster@boycott-republicans.com with the subject PROGRESSIVE