Posted on 09/12/2017 7:52:26 AM PDT by John Conlin
It is time to admit it; modern conservatism is almost a complete and utter failure.
Today’s conservative movement seems to employ a lot of folks in pretty cushy jobs, prints some magazines, hosts some websites, publishes various books, and puts on conferences until the cows come home – for those who don’t know, conferences and seminars can be big time money makers. Sadly, its primary purpose seems to have become a self-propagating jobs program for those lucky, skilled, or connected enough to rise to the top.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
“Modern Conservatism” is not conservative.
Limbaugh is a prime example. Rush is a Liberation and Blobalist that pretends to be a Conservative.
I like the Constitution (most of it).
I like state selection of Senators.
I don’t like income tax.
I like the federation of the several states.
I REALLY like the tenth amendment.
This “modern” stuff? Who needs it?
I actually liked “Blobalist” better! Kudos!
I think it's encouraging that Conservatism exists at all in light of this disturbing fact.
And it's not just the government run school system, but the government run media system and the government run entertainment industry.
Where we are making some headway is in statehouses. I don't know the exact numbers but it seems like over 30 states are run by Republican Governors and Legislatures.
Obviously, those Governors and Legislators may not be dyed-in-the-wool Conservatives but I think they offer us a glimmer of hope that Conservatism has a bright future.
Hey Freepers... always like to hear what you have to say. Thanks! jc
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I kinda doubt you want to hear what HG has to say.
I'm a constitutionalist. At least that means something.
That’s a negative view for sure. “Modern Conservatism” in many ways is the same as it’s always been. God and Country first. The people listed are only a tiny fraction of those of us who put Trump in place.
I disagree. Conservatism is doing just fine. Since it is a principle it is immutable. What we are seeing is a great filtering of true conservatives away from the “sunshine supermen” who don the cloak of conservatism when expedient or popular.
Conservatism works - when it is practiced. The problem is, most pubbies aren’t practicing conservatism - and barely even acting like pubbies..
They win because they own the airwaves.
“Conservatism” is not a failure. The brand of “conservatism” pushed by the GOP and the “conservative” chattering classes however most certainly is, as you say, an “utter failure.”
The GOP had better fully embrace conservatism and do it soon or it will go the way of the Whigs.
Conservatism and conservative have been so bastardized that anyone can claim and define their own version. Like the Tea Party that was infiltrated by outsiders, conservatism has become all things to all claimers.
GW Bush — compassionate conservative.
M Romney — severely conservative.
Jeb Bush — reform conservative.
Then you have all of the other ‘moderates’ who claim to be conservative but who have been exposed as shamsters.
The author is correct.
The Priests of Conservative Orthodoxy manipulate and use us for power and personal gain. They benefit enormously from the sale of our inheritance.
Conservatism without Nationalism is like Faith without Works.
That is 100% correct only because the parents of the 50 million young minds are poorly educated themselves having received the same propaganda cum education from grade school through college.
Few leaders, i.e., teachers, pastors, priests, professors of any stripe are more fearful for their jobs giving the Marxists in our midst an easier time of transforming the Republic into collective thinking; think of the brain as one sided.
Once upon a time there was a magnificent country made up of hard working people who were free to think as they pleased as long as their actions were lawful...they had a brilliant Constitution to follow and another doctrine called the Declaration of Independence and God was kept in their lives...but alas, power and greed, distortion and corruption made it even easier for the men/women who wanted to rule to invade the wondrous nation......the rest is history.
People want Socialism. Maybe not all of the people, but pretty clearly most of the people. It simply does not matter that it fails consistently whenever it is implemented.
I would offer the theory that Socialism is perceived by many as a scaled-up version of family and community life to which they are instinctively attracted. Women, in particular are strong supporters of Socialist governments.
We are hard-wired for small families and communities in which "from each according to their abilities, and to each according to theirs needs" is the operative principle. This is enforced by a strong and benevolent patriarch in the best cases.
But even in small family groups there are often dysfunctions and failures. And this system absolutely does not scale well beyond a small family group.
In larger groups, the inevitable sociopaths, predators, and parasites gain control and eventually destroy the community. This is the "cycle of history". It is an unstable positive feedback loop.
The rational arguments of Conservatives against this process are completely misdirected and ineffective.
Yep, just like social justice isn’t justice.
Many people have been pushing exactly this line with very little success. For example, people who state the biological fact that men are men and women are women are castigated for being transphobic. There's this thing called 'race realism' which if pushed will label you a nazi racist. Suggesting that there is any manifest difference between the average man and the average woman will get you fired from places like Google. Questioning any part of the global climate change narrative will put you in the same boat as holocaust deniers.
The author seems to think that we can bring economics, social science, psychology and the other softer sciences under the more exacting microscope of The Enlightenment and conservative ideals will automatically fall out.
But all of those softer sciences are completely taken over by liberals, even economics at the moment. And the liberals claim that they are enlightened and their opinions are fact-based, and the future belongs to them.
So what the author suggests is already being tried and also failing.
The only way that conservatism is going to win the day without a total collapse of society is for conservatives to have lots of children and have those children go into all of the professions that have been taken over by liberals, i.e. journalism, education, the media, law, etc.
Conservatives have been telling their kids to stick with 'real' jobs in corporate America. How has that been working? Not so well when you consider how major corporations like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. are being run.
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