How Conservatism Lost Its Mind

[Daktoria]

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/ ... -its-mind/
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/ ... kin-panic/
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/j ... ugman.html

I talk with a lot of conservatives, and these pieces certainly seem to ring true. Many conservatives today just refuse to think. You see pragmatism, pragmatism, pragmatism everywhere. They refute religion, ignore family values, and obsess over the MIC. The only ones who acknowledge social policy are emotional blowhards, and they increasingly frustrate the rest because emotions are innately hedonist.

I wonder a lot if this is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy though because if you think about it, progressivism seems to have deconstructed conservatism itself:

One, the dismissal of mandatory family values has destroyed the handing down of values from one generation to the next.
Two, the dismissal of religion has tolerated emotionally judgmental parents assuming the risk of having intelligent children who don't fit rugged individualism.
Three, the insistence of meritocracy has discouraged parents from caring about their children since they can just assimilate elsewhere.

In other words, the heritage required for intellectual conservatism to take root has literally been dug up by progressivism itself, and because conservatives are so obsessed about the free market, they don't care "to retrieve their wounded".

The ironic part about this, however, is that rugged individualism is actually a progressive policy - the social gospel. It was the excuse used to assimilate immigrants into America, and keep them working hard so elites could preserve social status instead of having to get their hands dirty. By preying on Catholic guilt, progressives could intimidate immigrants without them knowing.

Many conservatives today take pride in their ancestors' suffering to boot as if they paid their dues. They compare the melting pot against blacks and Hispanic illegal immigrants. In turn, they remain emotionally judgmental workaholics, and don't muster the time, energy, or attention to be intellectual. Instead, they just drown in melancholic country music, holding a pity party instead of organizing themselves.

[Professor]

There is only one problem with conservatism, and that is that it's not completely disavowing social conservatism.

We would never see a Democratic president ever again if conservatives focused on economics and foreign policy. But they refuse to be intelligent about it.

[Sandman]

[Spider]

Slaves to their base, just like everyone else.

A lot of the problem among conservatives is the disdain for moderation. You can't just be conservative, you have to be "severely conservative", or be styled the "Massachusetts Moderate" for example. Being severely conservative on the fiscal side doesn't work, because that would entail heavy cuts to defense and entitlements, something that this years GOP Convention makes abundantly clear simply isn't on the table.

So that leaves social conservatism. And its easy to be severe about that.

[Enoch]

[The Tooth]

Right-wing economic and foreign policy ideas are just as bad as right-wing domestic policy. We've seen the results of right-wing economic and foreign policy. Trickle-down economics and deregulation result in what you have now: a disappearing middle class and economic growth that benefits the very few. As for right-wing foreign policy, you can't afford all the wars the right wing wants to fight. Social conservatism aside, right-wing policies result in a race for the bottom.

[lnrw]

Barry Goldwater warned about this years ago and now it's happened.

They're anti everything but Jesus. It's crazy.



Ron Paul Republicans are the only hope at this time.

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