I don't think its laziness at all. I think there is a direct causation with the ideology of "I just want to be left alone", which is actually more of a core aspect of conservatism itself. It's a highly contradictory conservative belief upon examination.
"I just want to be left alone" is being murdered. Progressives are murdering "I just want to be left alone" daily.
The challenge is, the very nature of "I just want to be left alone" dictates a gentleman's agreement of "I'll leave you alone too".(cause that's what I want, "I just want to be left alone", I want what you want and I want you to have what I want, which is to be left alone.)
This gentleman's agreement is the suicide pact. It's cyanide, and people are drinking it. The U.S. is dying because of the drinking of this cyanide.
The contradiction is that "I just want to be left alone" needs to be defended. However, by their very nature, "I just want to be left alone" ideologues want to "leave you alone too".
At the end of the day, "I just want to be left alone" is undefended and easy to murder. It has no army. It needs an army, but has none.
"I just want to be left alone" does mean very few will join the school board, will go protest, will join and create non-profit entities such as the now defunct Tea Party Patriots and the hundreds of other non-profits that did for a moment exist in 2009-2010-2011. Become teachers, become historians, become journalists, etc etc.
Look, James O'Keefe should logically have tens of thousands of people who are willing to work for him, for $$free$$, to go out there and make journalists look bad. But why doesn't he have that? In reality, O'Keefe has to pay people because "I just want to be left alone" by their nature wants to "leave you alone too" otherwise he wouldn't have anybody at all. It would be just him, maybe one other guy. I'm not the only activist but we are terribly far and few inbetween.
DiogenesLamp,
this is the one you missed in your correct observations. "I just want to be left alone" We are being slaughtered by the contradiction held within "I just want to be left alone". Getting people to stand up for "I just want to be left alone" to become an army of defenders for "I just want to be left alone" is going to be terribly, terribly difficult. But, that is EXACTLY what the Founding Fathers did. They wanted to be left alone, so they got active, every single day.
This sentence appears contradictory, but it is actually perfectly synchronized. They wanted to be left alone, so they got active, every single day.
(Not meant to spam you, sorry.)
What I say below may sound like I disagree with you on this, ProgressingAmerica, but in reality, I believe we are in agreement.
We as Conservatives believe in the freedom to be "left alone". That is consistent with Conservatism. We believe that if someone wants to plow their land, drive to work every day to click at a computer, or make videos about flying kites to sell on YouTube, they should have the freedom to do that.
In Orwell's 1984, people were forced to take part in committees they didn't want to be on, join fundraisers to raise money for causes they didn't believe in, and march in marches to support things they didn't support.
Conservatives believe that, if the Constitution were preserved and observed as it should be in a Constitutional Republic, we shouldn't be faced with that dynamic. We would indeed be free to pursue our own interests, our personal goals of Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness, whatever we, as free individuals, determine that to be. As Conservatives, we believe that if people don't want to get involved in these types of activities they are protected from having to do that by the Constitution, and are free to pursue Life, Liberty, and Happiness as they see fit.
And I would agree with that, with one exception. Like it or not, or admit it or not, we are at war. And when you are at war, you are faced with defeat and submission if you ignore it.
It is only in that respect I agree with the tone of your post. We have to face the fact that we are engaged in a civil war already, it just has not turned into a shooting war yet
Today, we have two significant segments of society: Those who believe the Constitution should be maintained and observed, and those who believe the Constitution is archaic and should be changed, ignored, or scrapped.
And co-existence for these two groups is not possible.
It is going to end in only one of two ways:
Oligarchies, due to human nature and its well known flaws, only follow a single path, and that is not a path, but a Road to Serfdom.
And I agree with some posters who propose that we already live under an oligarchy right now. I maintain that is undeniable.
But I do disagree vehemently with those who say there is no material difference between a Constitutional Republic and an Oligarchy. One is the Rule of Law, the other is The Rule of Man. And the path of The Rule of Man is well understood, if one understands history.
So, if we let these things keep going as they are going, and have been for the past 40-60 years, this is going to turn into a hot civil war. It may not occur in 2024. It may not occur even in the life I have left to live, whatever God determines what that is.
But, if left unchecked, the trajectory of tyranny will inevitably lead to that.
My biggest fear is that, like frogs in a pot of cool water being slowly brought to a boil, too few of us frogs will wake to the realization we are being boiled alive in a steaming cauldron of tyranny in enough time to jump out and save our country.
I have always maintained that it is far easier to fight in the moment and keep from being engulfed and consumed by a creeping tyranny than is to escape a total tyranny once you are in it. Anyone who lived in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany will readily attest to that.
And so, ProgressingAmerica, in the end, I DO agree with you. And that is because we are, and have been for some decades, at war. We need to get our minds right with that, because those who oppose us have their minds right with it. We must match that or face submission and tyranny to them.