"__________"
"...the core goal of conservatism is to conserve the existing power structure."
I consider myself sympathetic to what was called conservative and I'm getting really tired of it being associated with the current Republican administration. Conservative is not deficts and spending. Conservative is not foreign adventurism. Conservative is small govt, constitutional authority, devolution of powers. Rightfully decry the current and impending power structure but please don't involve conservatism in the process.
Recall a time, ancient in the current political cycle but recent in the history of modern democracy; "The Conscience of a Conservative" by Goldwater was one side and JFK another. Today JFK couldn't even get the Republican nomination because of his extreme conservative positions.
What we have now is capitalism running ahead (evolving faster) than its democratic checks and balances in the field of economics. To compound the error we have politics outrunning its traditional constraints.
12 comments:
ahhh
a fellow paleo...
The Republican Party was stolen and is now operated by 3 groups:
1. Military-Industrial Complex (per DDE January 1961) - Cheney et al
2. The Rove/Abramoff/Norquist/Reed/Luntz - Power-forever without ideology bunch
3. The Neocon rule-the-world and by G-- protect Israel.
None of those 3 groups gives a hoot for a balanced budget, smaller government or anything Republicans from the 1950s or 60s would recognize.
"Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Ahhh, common ground. I have a first edition of the paperback around here someplace.
It's the single best political quote of the last 60 years.
The agenda seems to be a race to bankrupt the entitlements schemes. More bread, more circuses. Also, there is an unsettling redistribution of wealth that started mid 80s and is picking up steam. Without effective oversight, we're heading toward a caste system.
After we bankrupted the Evil empire, why did we turn inwards to devour ourselves? Is it just a case of idle hands doing the Devils work?
When they dump the religious bullshit as Arnold has done, the Republicans are no worse than the Democrats. Unfortunately this is not the norm.
"After we bankrupted the Evil empire, why did we turn inwards to devour ourselves? Is it just a case of idle hands doing the Devils work?"
Pure bullshit. The gap may be widening, but we're virtually all better off now than we were 20 years ago. Expectations change. The house you turn your nose up at was your parents dream home 20 years ago, and the very thought of a car or credit card payment was utterly foriegn to them, to name just a few examples without even mentioning your furnishing, fashion, electronics, restaurants, etc. And please spare me the "real wage" dooms graphs that squeel about a 1.35682% decline, etc.
Read this and try to contain your whinig, it makes you look a little fucking girl, which you should thank me for pointing out since those around you are thinking it but are too polite to say so.
http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/data/index.html
Robert, just an observation,
Robert,
Clinton shrunk government and the deficit. So does that make you a Clinton Conservative? Just kidding.
You bring up JFK, I would also point out that Nixon would be viewed as a leftie in the Dem Party now, which some might embrace.
I would advise you to read "Conservatives without Conscience" by John Dean who still describes himself as a Goldwater conservative. He posits that there is no such thing as a "conservative". (Just a small note Goldwater never saw a water project in AZ that he never liked to have funded). He also kind of offers a taxonomy of conservative types in the spectrum.
I would also like to answer to Buchanan on his quotation:
"Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.".
This is exactly what the extreme right have used as the basis for stripping liberties recently. These folks are what Dean calls Right Wing Authoritarians and they are according to sociological studies the stuff off naziism. I hope that is not you because you seem rational.
My main problem with the recent jerk to the right is that these things go in cycles and the jerk to the left in reaction might be severe due to this current conservative run.
Metro,
So many points so little time.
Clinton's "shrinking" was an ill considered evisceration of the very intelligence and military assets that turned out to be needed most. Some of that and a lot of the rest was an honest attempt to deliver a peace dividend. It didn't turn out that way but I'm reticent to judge as I don't think many could have done better. Just a bad outcome, not a bad policy excepting the Armed Services morale problem that is Clinton's albatross alone. Clinton will go down in history as the guy with his finger in the wind. Little wonder we got GWB en reposte.
Dean is a strange creature. I don't know what to think. As to Goldwater and Federal largess; two points. They weren't boondoggles but spoils and neither expensive nor wasteful. They all continue to deliver dividends. The same for the "Cadillac Dessert" Kalifornia water projects. They make money. There are recent examples of spoils gone bad. West Virgina Federal relocations and the CA/T (Big Dig) being the most obvious. Likewise the punishment of the California industrial base particularly areo/techno/defense will be the next decades' clear bonehead moves. Admittedly, I've only done the exec summary of Deans book and that many years ago. Please correct me if I got it wrong. I care not for nor about either party as they are probably dinosaurs in this new age. Post Nixon, the trend seems to be one of more power. If you cannot wrestle power from political opponents then take it from the citizenry and share a little with the other side. It begins to feel more like being forced to choose amongst masters rather than being presented a choice of servants.
We were at US historically far liberalism even before the election. We've entered new territory with Pelosi, et al. The crap about phone privacy is moot. There is no digital privacy, not for a decade. New laws won't change that either. Time to move on. Authoritarian daddy or nanny mommy? I choose emancipation.
Buch....you are right. Expectations change. Everyone thinks they deserve the McMansion.-G
You got it wrong. Dean's book just came ou this year. I can't say I disagree with much else that you said. I was just pointing out that the Goldwater project while being proven mostly worthwhile were still a massive infusion of eastern money for projects to grow the west. Some would call that a very "liberal" use of funding.
Thanks, I didn't know about the new book. I was thinking "Blind Ambition" which was colored by bitterness.
Goldwater in his day still had traces of Madison and Jefferson. Not a bad thing IMHO. I'd be content if their shadows would rise to show us the way. I've ling said that Hamilton would roll over in his grave at the extent of federalism he championed.
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