Forum Post: Is American Conservatism Actually Evil?

I guess it is all in the way one looks at Life.

If a person has been unemployed for a long time and cannot seem to get a job no matter what is tried and the family is going hungry, then the idea that many Conservatives have been refusing to pass President Obama's Jobs Bills probably marks Conservatism as "Evil" in that person's eyes.

If a person owns an 18-room mansion in Boca Raton or somewhere and has a bevy of personal servants and more money than they know what to do with, then that person probably thinks Conservatism is God's Gift to Humankind.

And that is where I want to begin this morning---with the conceptualization of "Conservatism" on the part of many who practice it. (And many who observe it in action..)

To the dyed-in-the-wool American Conservative, "Conservatism" is probably less of a political thing than it is a Religious thing. In America, there has been a severe fusion of religion and politics in the past few years resulting in something entirely new to these shores. We have seen the birth of the first American Religious Political party. It used to be called "Republican."

It is still called "Republican" but, in my book, it bears little or no resemblance to the original. Today I see this party as having been taken over by the radical religious elements of the far Right and the old-order "Moderates" seem to have fled and taken up residence in some shadowy place where few people can see them or hear them anymore.

In this new "Political Conservative Religion," things are taken on "Faith" rather than on evidence, logic or reason. This means that things can be declared to be Gospel Truth for no other reason than someone with a little clout "Believes" it to be true.

That kind of lame-brained non-reasoning technique is how we get into wars looking for non-existent weapons of mass destruction, for example. That is the kind of reasoning that commits the military might of The United States to a 10-year-long adventure in some sand-locked country and costs billions of dollars and thousands of lives-- chasing a phantasm.

As I have pointed out numerous times on this blog, American Conservatives are in the minority as far as U.S. Politics are concerned. Their voter registrations are far fewer than those of say the Democrats, Independents and Progressives. In all the history of America, the Conservatives have been elected the least number of times and for far shorter periods of time than any other faction.

This should be a lesson to everyone who observes the American Scene. The fact that I just stated shows, in my view anyway, that Americans much prefer Democrat/Liberal/Progressive governance than any other "Brand." You can listen to all the wind and you can suck up all the smoke from the Right Wing propaganda masters that you want to, but facts still outweigh suppositions every single time. The fact appears to be that Americans have traditionally preferred Democrats over Republicans.

Republicans, of course, cannot seem to stand these kinds of realities so they are left with no recourse but to resort to trying to keep the country polarized over issues and to pump their typically Christian//Fundamentalist electorate base into a "Family And Moral Values" frenzy each election cycle just to get them to the polls and cast their votes for "Gee-Zuss."

I believe many Republicans and Conservatives must think they can actually eventually take complete and permanent control of the government in this manner. I think they would really love for that to happen. They would be free to junk Democracy entirely and replace it with some vision of a Theocratic Republic where "Religion Rules" every facet of daily life.

As I have watched many Conservatives work their little schemes over the past few years, I have noticed they love to pass laws designed to restrict people's right to vote.

These have recently been called "Voter Suppression Laws" and it seems to me that many on the Right have gone overboard getting these things passed-- especially at state and local levels of the country.

http://www.thejeffersontree.com/is-american-conservatism-actually-evil/