ConservativesI never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. John Stuart Mill. Quoted in Eric Alterman's book: Why We're Liberals What conservatives are really arguing for is a return to the three historic embodiments of tyranny that the Founders and Framers identified, declared war against, and fought and died to keep out of our land. Those tyrants were kings, theocrats, and noble feudal lords....They stripped the president of the power to declare war...Separated the State from the church and they rejected feudalism (broadly defined as "rule by the super rich.) From Thom Hartman's book Threshold. "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." -- John Kenneth Galbraith Top Ten Conservative Idiots (December 1999) Think again, What is Conservatism ? From Teleprompter to Torture: Caricature of American Conservatism on display at CPAC 2010 Witness the cheering crowd of conservatives at CPAC 2010. Dick Cheney, the man who helped legitimize torture, renditions, secret prisons, universal phone taps, pre-emptive war, and practically unlimited use of resources for war, speaks stirringly of bringing down our sitting President. These same people, knowing the dysfunction of our health care system, cheer that they can throw up obstacles to any kind of reform. Meanwhile, they know people in the US are dying for lack of proper care. They call themselves 'pro-life' with the same hypocrisy that they call themselves 'conservative'. Matt Ygelsias still wonders what conservatives want to actually accomplish in governing:: "I guess I don't really understand what it is that the GOP has a great opportunity to do. The view they're articulating at the moment is that (a) the deficit should be lower, (b) taxes should be lower, (c) Medicare shouldn't be cut, (d) defense spending should be higher. With unemployment at 10 percent, this is a somewhat potent political message that helped them become only slightly less popular than the other party. That's a huge improvement from where they were 18 months ago. But it's not a governing agenda. What would they do if they took over?" Right Wing Politics is mostly dirty tricks (1/28/2010) HOW conservatives RUINED GOVERNMENT _ Moyers Journal (video) 1/16/2010 Bill Moyers: Conservative Radicals and the Politics of Vengeance (9/21/2009) Words are important. Republicans usually call themselves 'conservative', but the word 'conservative' has no relation to Republican activities. Through the Bush years, without apology, R's have: Passed trillions of dollars in debt to our children and redistributed wealth upward by 'lowering taxes', profligate spending, putting the cost of war on the tab, and rewarding their crony friends from the government ATM. They say they are for 'shrinking government', but it has grown in ways that demonstrate their hypocrisy. They have made the US one of the worst countries for inequality of income distribution and they want to cut social programs. They have demonstrated an ability to shrink the currency, to create financial instability, and to bring on economic crisis. See these stories by Joseph Stiglitz. While Iraq war profiteering was rampant, troops were under strength, under equipped, and rotated too often. Domestic security was compromised by the removal of first responders to Iraq, the trashing of the National Guard, and widespread drop outs from service. Real conservatives would want to mitigate possible damage to the environment. R's do not. Real Christians, unlike Republicans, would want to assist the poor, make peace, and do good. Republicans do quite the opposite. They are human rights abusers, torturing when it suits them, engaging in renditions, and thumbing their nose at international law. This has cost the US the good will of the rest of the world, and may yet lead to terrorism on our own soil. We are targets now. We are not safer. Warmongering, empire-building Republicans have sacrificed those high American values for greedy, mean spirited, short-term, goals. That is NOT conservative. Evangelical churches have become the propaganda tool of Republicans. Real conservatives would want to protect the best features of the Constitution at the very least. Instead Bush's administration undermined the bill of rights, neglected important assumptions such as the avoidance of entangling foreign alliances, the revulsion against concentration of power (whether it be the media, corporations, or the Presidency.), or the continued functioning of those 'checks and balances'. The US, thanks to 'law and order' Republicans now is a leader in incarcerations of its own people. US government now wiretaps at will, searches people at airports, spies on their every move, conducts much of its public business in secrecy, engages in completely unethical behavior by secret, covert agencies. R's profess support for law in order...just not for themselves. Party hacks staffed important government positions and incompetence has been the trademark of the Bush administration. Bible school graduates staffed the Justice Department, political minders censored scientists, and corporate cronies were allowed to run regulatory agencies. The results are clear now. Supreme Court justice Scalia, when discussing the 2000 election, said "Get over it". The Court has made many bad decisions in the past, mostly because they always take the Corporate interest over that of the people. Appointing Bush was, in 20/20 hindsight, the worst decision they ever made. The US may never recover from it. See Republicans for further details, since they apply the label Conservative to themselves without any clue of what it would mean to conserve. Not only have R's raced to the bottom, they have crashed the US there. BibliographyThe Conservative Nanny State: Dean Baker (Read it on line.) Conservatives Without Conscience: John W. Dean
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