Let’s begin the new year with an
understanding of the greatest threat to our democratic republic. No, it is not
Russia. It is not Iran. It is not ISIS. And it is not even North Korea. And it's definitely not a group of migrants seeking asylum.
This enemy is within.
And no, it is not our free press or the fictional "fake news liberal media". It is
corporatist Con-servatism. Con-servatism is the ideology of the shock troops of
corporatism.
Our study of Con-servatism isn't complete
without an essential outline of their ideology.
“Conservative” used to mean adhering to family
and tradition, valuing personal responsibility, a work ethic, and basic human
decency. Liberals share these values as well, but for the moment, let us allow
them to hold their claim.
Where conservatives and liberals really
diverged was in tolerance for Constitutional regulation of commerce, taxes, and
the general welfare, but more critically, an aversion to change and suspicion
of the new and unfamiliar.
That was the chink in their armor. Conservatism
was about to be transformed into Con-servatism. All that was needed to recruit
and exploit conservatives was someone to tell them who to fear and who to blame.
Anger and hate would follow.
Today’s Con-servatism is the result. It is a
creation and tool of Corporatism. It demands radical changes beyond the
Constitutional boundaries of a democratic republic. To their credit, smarter
and more humane conservatives see through the cult of Trumpism and
Con-servatism, albeit too late for our country’s sake.
In the simplest of terms, Con-servatism is
the ideology of a social minority designed to facilitate the corporate elite’s dominance
over the democratic representation of the majority. It is part and parcel of Corporatism’s
goal of rule by their “divine right of wealth”. Con-servatism utilizes racial
and social divisions, religious fundamentalism, and instilled resentments in
common people to further the agenda and bottom lines of the wealthy elites.
Most of their loyal foot soldiers have no
idea who and what they are serving. They believe they are defending liberty, religious
freedom and capitalism, instead of repression, inequality, and corporatism.
Con-servatism’s masters believe corporations
should control our government, instead of having their commerce regulated by
Constitutional law.
“Government is the problem” they claimed, and
the followers believed.
No, their problem wasn’t government, but with
government by representative democracy, in service to the people, and founded
on consent of the governed. They are diametrically opposed to the founders’
declared intent.
Government owned by Big Money was their
solution. Con-servatism needed to declare war on democracy. Reagan began the modern
final assault on democracy and the public good. Their ultimate overthrow of our
local, state and federal governments is nearly complete.
Corporate lobbying and “free speech” cash
have corrupted and bought our politicians. Through their agents, corporations
are actively writing legislation and establishing their own regulatory rules.
Corporatism and its Republican Party needed
the ideology of Con-servatism to defeat democracy. Now tentacles of corporate
personhood have latched onto enough Democrats to gain unimaginable power.
Corporatism’s Con-servative ideology needs to
be understood before it can be defeated, and before it brings about its
inevitable harm and destruction to the planet, humanity and the economy.
Let’s now examine the tenets and methods of the
beast within our borders.
What is Con-servatism?
~~~~
Con-servatism Is Hypocrisy
Remember when Con-servatives chastised Obama
for “not listening to the generals”?
Ask generals Kelly, Mattis and McChrystal
about that now. “Cadet Bonespurs” not only declared he knows more than they do,
he engages them in childish insults and smears them for disagreeing with his
ignorance.
While sanctimonious religious fanatics love
their pussy grabbin', hate-spewing, racist liar, their Con-servative leaders
have been hypocrites for a long time.
Newt “Mr. Rule of Law” Gingrich 1998:
“I think it is disgraceful that official representatives of the executive branch are undermining a legitimate, legal investigation of the Department of Justice.” March 1998
“There are two principles I am prepared to live and die on. The first is that the American people have the right to know about basic facts. And the second is that we are a nation under the rule of law and no person, including the president, is above the law.” April 1998
“We have the spectacle in Washington today of the president frankly as defendant-in-chief. It would have been inconceivable for Washington or Franklin or Jefferson or Hamilton to have the person sworn to uphold the Constitution as the chief law-enforcement officer using every defense item he can find from every defense lawyer in town.” May 1998
“For anybody to talk about doing anything before we finish the investigative process simply puts the cart before the horse.” September 1998
How noble.
Newt “IOKIYAR” Gingrich 2017
“Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down.” May 17, 2017
Newt “IOKIYAR” Gingrich 2017
“Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down.” May 17, 2017
Oh, oh. This was a mistake. Better retreat
into hypocrisy.
“Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.” Jun 12, 2017
“Rethink” = “Waah! Not fair!! Big MAGAt is ABOVE the law!!”
“Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.” Jun 12, 2017
“Rethink” = “Waah! Not fair!! Big MAGAt is ABOVE the law!!”
~~~~~~
Con-servatism Is Ignorance
Hypocrisy has a vital partner in ignorance within
the halls of Con-servatism. For evidence see any Trump speech or tweet, all far
Right media and organizations, and Trump-supporting dupes, rubes, bumpkins
and bigots.
The latest notable example of how clueless they are is this exchange on Morning Joe with Con-servative Mick Mulvaney about the departure of Brett McGurk, the ISIS envoy.
HOST: "His title is the special presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter ISIS. How is it that the president doesn't know his -- the point person in the battle against ISIS?"
MULVANEY: "You know the answer to that, the administration is thousand -- the executive branch of government is millions of people. I have no idea who that person is."
HOST: "You don't know Brett McGurk."
MULVANEY: "Never heard of him until yesterday. There is an Obama appointee who saw an opportunity."
HOST: "He was a Rehnquist clerk, he served throughout the Bush administration, he was a lifelong Republican, he is not an Obama appointee."
MULVANEY: "Did he take that position under the Obama administration?"
HOST: "He was held over from the Bush administration. This is not a Democrat, sir."
MULVANEY: "I'm certain he is well known in the folks who follow this topic. The fact that the president of the United States doesn't know him I don't think should cause anybody any concern."
As with their Dear Leader, ignorance is strength. It is their tool and weapon. But relax; they don't think it should cause anybody any concern.
This is what we get when con-servative low information/duped voters elect low-information presidents and hacks.
~~~~~~
Con-servatism Is Emotion Over Facts,
Logic and Reason
Con-servatism is based on emotion and manipulation of emotion. Examples include birtherism, racism,
victimhood, resentment, anger, and hate, along with
false accusations and blame for everyone not in their cult.
One result Con-servatives' fervent nationalism is subsuming and replacing patriotism.
They are wary and suspicious of different ethnic groups and cultures. They are uncomfortable with nuance and ambivalence, and they fear dissent and distrust those with more knowledge.
Evidence includes dismissing, denying,
demeaning, distorting and discrediting educators, scientists, and journalists along
with the science, free press, and public and advanced education they represent.
For more examples, see most Republicans, and the
MAGAt on Twitter and at his rallies. Also Breitbart, Limbaugh, and FOX(R), etc.
~~~~~~
Con-servatism Is Greed, Dominance, Power, and
Cruelty as Virtues
Greed has always been a Con-servative virtue.
Privilege and power are for the economic elites. Wall Street over Main Street,
and profit over people are their priorities. Intended and unintended cruelty is
the byproduct for the less fortunate and disenfranchised.
“We are all in it together” is replaced by their
“every man for himself” ethos. Compassion is for bleeding heart libs.
Corporate person-hood, wealth, and profit are
embraced over human health, happiness and well-being. Our planet’s air, water
and resources are to be exploited, polluted and desecrated to the utmost in
service to corporate interests.
Examples of dominance and power are the
desire for corporate control of government and destruction of Constitutional
taxes, regulation of commerce, and provision for the general welfare.
Their goal is continued opposition to, and
overruling of, consent of the governed by an authoritarian tyranny of the
minority.
For evidence of Greed, Dominance, Power, and
Cruelty, see cutting taxes for corporations and the rich, along with wage
suppression, slashing food stamps, health care, and voter rights for the poor
and minorities.
~~~~~
Con-servatism Is Dishonesty
It’s simple. The tactics of lying and cheating are not only acceptable; they are rewarded, if you are a Republican.
To win, they MUST lie. Republicans can’t come
out and admit they want to poison our air and water, let banks write their own
rules, and privatize your Social Security.
Bush Jr. floated that last item briefly and the opposition was overwhelming.
Don’t be fooled. Privatizing public services, corporate control of government, and gutting safety nets are still
high on their agenda.
This is why they wrap their putrid package in
“liberty” and “free markets”, meaning the rich will have the liberty to buy the politicians, write the
rules, deregulate commerce, and exacerbate the suffering of the less fortunate.
No wonder they have to lie. It is imperative
to enforce their ideology.
Unless you’ve been in a coma, you couldn’t
help but know the number of lies from unqualified criminal bigot in the White
House number in the thousands.
But this unprecedented number of lies from
The Lyin’ King is only following the long tradition of far Right presidential dishonesty.
We can trace it back through “I am not a crook”, to “Government is the problem”,
to “Saddam has a ‘nukular’ weapons program and ties to al-Qaeda”.
~~~~
~~~~
All of the above tenets of con-servatism, and
their goals, ideals, values, and tactics require massive amounts of propaganda, scapegoating, false accusations, and fabricated “alternative facts” to dupe enough of the
public into giving them power. The ends justify the means. It is authoritarianism
all the way.
Unforeseen by the elites, the Corporatism
they built created a monster in Con-servatism. Unchained monsters like
con-servatism often eat their master. The Great Depression and Bush’s Great
Recession proved con-servatism to be their double edged sword.
But they won’t let that get in the way of
their short term bottom line.
The blowback will follow this time too.
Con-servatism’s next calamity waits around the corner. And Democrats will have to
clean up their mess again.
But this pattern cannot endure. It may not
work again because the damage to our democracy, economy, and institutions may
be beyond repair this time.
The Party of Trump has become the most
divisive institution since slavery, and is the greatest threat to our democratic
representation. Therefore they are the greatest threat to the United States of America.
“Consent of the governed” and “United we
stand” are fading into history.
“Divided we fall” is the inevitable
consequence of unchecked Con-servatism.
Posts
19 comments:
Con-servatism 101 is not only a great primer on the destructive nature of today's GOP and conservatisim toward democratic ideals and processes, but explores how it has achieved these through its fascist-like partnership with corporatism. Nice work.
All this, of course, flies totally over the heads of today's Republicans and conservatives - not to mention most Democrats and so-called liberals.
Even the majority of Democrats have not been adequately immunized against the democracy-destroying aspects of corporatism and are snow-blind to the corporatacracy we've become. It's there, everywhere, but they've grown accustomed to it because of the incremental "baby-steps" it took to surround them.
We live in a pretend-democratic republic, and now have to deal with a pretend-president. Let's hope reality becomes apparent to most Americans starting in 2019. I fear for our children's and grandchildren's future if it doesn't.
JG,
The tragedy is compounded by the deliberate negligence of corporate media in acknowledging this reality. Corporate media is so cowed by crazed and false accusations of liberal bias, it's rare enough for them to discuss climate change, let alone mention the secret word, "neo-liberalism".
Corporatism has firmly merged with fanatic fundamentalism and white nationalism. Corpo-Conservatism is the monster they created.
Not good.
Much of Trump's meme about the so-called "fake news" misses the point entirely, of course. His war against media is entirely predicated around the fact that they don't support his stupidity, recklessness, racism and habitual lying.
The "fake news" of corporate-media, as he views it, is less obvious and sinister than its purposeful omissions. You called out two, climate change and neo-liberalism, yet the list is almost non-ending. Articles abound, daily, of corporate malfeasance and corporate-government partnering in non-corporate periodicals and websites. But, except to a few, the news of the events affecting our lives, our livelihoods, our health never reach enough people to have a sustaining effect on our political processes.
It's the same ol', same ol' each voting cycle. Elemental items may shift or alter, but it's always "business as usual".
We still have a free vote democracy. The people need to take the blame and responsibility. Republicans have been winning the White House and, or the Congress since 1980. One can say the people have been lied to, but that's nothing new from our politicians.
The people have continuously supported the Republican mantras for almost 40 years, which is the same time period it took to build a 20 trillion dollar debt and biased voting results due to gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is nothing new either and Democrats abused that power when they had it.
There is a difference between Trump and what was the Republican party. The Republican party is nothing like the Republican party of Eisenhower any more than the Republican party of Bush jr. just a few years ago is anything like Trump's Republican party.
Both parties have become more corporate in theory, practice, and policies. Neither party reflects government for and by the people and until the people force their voice on politicians the parties never will reflect government for and by the people.
Spreading lies and propaganda is not the same as tampering with actual votes. That's what political ads and the millions for those ads are all about. Claiming Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million does not explain away the country's majority vote for Republican rule over the last 40 years and this country has never elected presidents by popular vote anyways.
We have to get rid of the idea that government is the problem. We need to re-embrace the proven success of communal taxation being one key to successful growth for the whole country. The history of our mistakes are there for all to learn from, but instead we are repeating those mistakes. Running a fiscally healthy government that provides for its people is a reality that differs from political theory and debate.
Money is what greases the wheels of a capitalistic society. Cutting taxes without cutting spending is failure 101. No spending means no progress. Trickle down economics is no longer a theory, it is a proven failure. Bush Sr. was correct, it's Voodoo economics. More correctly, Mondale was right.
I guess the latest count is 7546 lies in the first 700 days. He's even created a new standard of lying with the bottomless Pinocchio. Think the troops will ever see their 10% raise as promised by the Lying Asshole-in-Chief? He is incapable of telling the truth about anything.
Jerry
"The history of our mistakes are there for all to learn from, but instead we are repeating those mistakes."
For sure. The problem is those are not mistakes, but the Right's intended MO that reaps power as a reward. There will always be a vast pool of dupes and low-information voters.
Things have only gotten darker since FOX(R) and Limbaugh launched their brain-washing operation.
Tim,
The depressing part is many of the cult KNOW he's a liar, but they support him anyway. All that matters is they perceive Trump hates the same people they've been indoctrinated to hate.
Hope everyone is watching one-on-one interview with Elizabeth Warren on The Rachel Maddie Show. She speaks of all the things Dave has spoken of, and I've mentioned.
She wants to go after the corporate state. She wants to level the playing-field. She wants fairness for all.
Why is she demonized?...by both the right and the left? It's because the corporate media don't want her talking about such things.
You got it...
Excellent discussion. The 10th paragraph holds the essence of it -- it's an ideology of concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a small oligarchy, and it therefore needs and uses a range of kinds of squid ink to get masses of mostly-less-educated people to vote against their own economic interests.
It does face the problem of raising up a monster it can't control, though. Oligarchical conservatism co-opted the Christian Right as a source of foot soldiers and reliable voters who would elect Republicans who would then enact the oligarchy's agenda, but from the beginning the Christian Right was a distinct force with goals of its own, which has largely transformed the Republican party into a movement of authentic actual dumb hicks who don't care much about tax cuts and free trade so long as abortion is restricted, gays are harassed, and creationism is taught in the schools. You can see it in, for example, the party base's broad support for Trump's tariff wars, a policy anathema to the old-line oligarchs.
Blaming the mass of voters for the fact that Republicans keep winning in a system massively skewed in their favor is an absurdity analogous to, though lesser in degree than, blaming blacks in apartheid South Africa (who couldn't vote) for the fact that the pro-apartheid party there kept winning elections. For example, in the last third of a century, a Republican candidate for President won the popular vote only once -- in 2004, and that was an incumbent President in wartime (and he still won by a fairly small margin). In every other case, the voters went for the Democrat. The Electoral College thwarted the result that would have followed under genuinely democratic rules. The structure of the Senate is even more effective at distributing power in a way that makes what people voted for almost irrelevant, when 35 million people scattered among a dozen rural states elect a dozen times as many Senators as the 35 million people in California. These aspects of the Constitution facilitate minority rule, and call into question how much of a democracy the US really is.
Blaming a system we have lived by for 240 years that both sides have played by and abused is just sour grapes complaining. All candidates know to win the presidency is to win the Electoral College, not the popular vote. The strategy to win the Electoral College has changed as our population and movement of people has changed.
The Democrats had the gerrymander advantage for most of the twentieth century. FDR was hated by Republicans as much as Democrats hate Trump and there is plenty of evidence that FDR acted like a dictator such as trying to put 12 on the Supreme Court.
Republicans then cried cheat and unfair as Democrats have cried it since 2000. Rules are not always fair and certainly the founders wrote a biased mathematical system and knew it was unbalanced at the time, but they had the majority.
Certainly the Constitution needs a rewrite, but I wouldn't trust the current set of legislators to do that rewrite; nor would it be smart to try and rewrite the Constitution in the current climate of partisanship. The kind of partisanship where people are ostracized because they wouldn't vote a straight party ticket even though one of those candidates had 30 criminal convictions. That's the kind of partisan, brick wall thinking that gives us bad legislators and corrupt government.
Infidel and Jerry,
We can certainly blame voters AND the rigged system for the ongoing failures of our fatally flawed experiment in democratic representation. But we should also blame the politicians and their corporate owners even more. THEY are exploiting and exacerbating the flaws.
The blame is justified, and is more than mere sour grapes. The fact we agree the Constitution needs amending on the Senate, the EC, and perhaps gerrymandering indicates the blame is appropriate.
The corporate media have been playing the both-siderism game so much it is ingrained into the public perception. Upon closer examination we find this is usually false equivalence. Gerrymandering in the age of FOX(R) and hate radio, and Citizens United is a different monster than in the past. State and federal House gerrymandering and the dis-proportion of Senators favoring rural white people has imposed upon us the most unfair and unbalanced representation since slavery. The gains from women’s suffrage and the Voting Rights Act have proven insufficient. This is why I keep harping on the Founders’ primary ideal, and their intention for government by consent of the governed. The early Constitution failed in that goal largely due to slave state demands. Those poison pills are still with us.
Yes FDR wanted a Supreme Court more friendly to New Deal programs. The fact is he did not do it, and could not have followed through with his wish without congress. We can compare that to the Republicans’ denial of Obama’s Constitutional duty to appoint a Justice to see the real betrayal of the country and Constitution.
Both sides didn't do that. Both sides didn't invite Russia into our election. Both sides don't support Trump.
Only one side is waging total war on democracy, voter rights and consent of the governed.
Sadly voting for the lesser of evils is our only way to restrain the greater evil. The most corrupt party needs to be soundly defeated before we can reform the less corrupt party.
When will we learn that?
The answer to fixing our Constitutional problems is not to claim one party has the correct answers and one party is the cause of all those problems.
Can we silence free speech because one side says the other side is a bunch of brainwashed idiots?
Stalin got 95% of the vote because he intimidated people to vote a straight Communist party line vote, or end up in some jail in Siberia.
I don't want low information voters who are told to vote a straight line party vote, or be cast as a traitor to their party. That's how we end up with idiots like Trump.
Group think is alive and well in the Republican party, worse would be for Democrats to follow the same behavior.
Voting for a politician just because they are a member of a certain party no matter how bad their record is, is courting disaster. The lessor of two evils is not our only option.
Exploiting weakness is normal behavior in an adversary system. Using rules to one's advantage is normal in a competitive environment.
And what about what the people want? It's the people who have voted for Republican majority leadership over the last 40 years. Can we ignore that just because we disagree with their political ideology? Republicans got the gerrymander edge because the people's vote put them in majority on the State level of government.
The Democrats had political majority in this country for 60 years. Are they blameless for the mess we are in? Are they blameless for the advantage they took by right of their majority power? Can they be trusted to be truly fair if they get majority power and gerrymander power back on their side? History says no.
History shows us political corruption does not belong to one side, but belongs to the side in majority power.
"The answer to fixing our Constitutional problems is not to claim one party has the correct answers and one party is the cause of all those problems." ~~ Jerry
Agreed, and I don't believe that is Dave Dubya's contention, or Infidels, or Tim's or anybody else's - least of all, mine. It's evident, though, that the GOP has led us down the path of corporatism and the Democratic Party has followed suit.
"Can we silence free speech because one side says the other side is a bunch of brainwashed idiots?" ~~ Jerry
Consider, though, that the Supreme Court redefined "free speech" to include money. This opened the floodgates to buying elections, while not exempting foreign money. Arguably, this redefinition was clearly along party-lines.
"Group think is alive and well in the Republican party, worse would be for Democrats to follow the same behavior." ~~ Jerry
The GOP is definitely cultist, although not the case with the Democratic Party which has always been diverse and fragmented. Personally, I don't see this as a concern.
"Voting for a politician just because they are a member of a certain party no matter how bad their record is, is courting disaster. The lessor of two evils is not our only option." ~~ Jerry
I share your views here. As the saying goes, the lessor of two evils is still evil. Evil, whatever the magnitude, was what both major parties offered in 2016. It's the reason a rightwing populist took the presidency (whether legitimately or not).
"History shows us political corruption does not belong to one side, but belongs to the side in majority power." ~~ Jerry
Agreed, but more power breeds more corruption - and money and greed exploit it.
It was Infidel that erased me from his blog because I refused to vote a straight party Democratic ticket even though my Democratic candidate had 30 criminal convictions on his record. That was my punishment for not following Infidel's edict. Stalin used to put people in jail for not voting the way he told you to vote. Not only is that pure BS, but now Infidel is saying there must be something wrong with ME. You do what Infidel demands, I won't.
"Impeach the MF'er" bumper stickers should be coming soon.
Jerry,
I would appreciate no more off-topic drama, please.
"'Impeach the MF'er' bumper stickers should be coming soon." ~~ Dave Dubya
I'll definitely put one on mine!
It's so fitting, don't you think? There are many descriptors for the mobster-in-chief, but this one covers all the bases.
I have to give Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D) of Michigan a round of applause for her comments and saying it like it is "Bullies don't win. We're going to impeach the motherf**ker" This sure got the right and their civility BS going wild. Civility went out the window when the orange one came down the elevator. Mitt"Con Job" Romney supports the Wall BS, but just doesn't like the orange ones character. What a typical Republicon and a joke. We'll see how many times he votes for the orange ones radical agenda on immigration and other policies. Will the gubmint trade Maria Butina for the guy Putin has? I'm sure the orange one and the NRA would like to in order to mess with Mueller's investigation. Hopefully soon we'll see the Trumpers get up in arms when they aren't getting their tax refunds processed, if this shutdown shit goes on too much longer. Maybe some of them aren't totally brain washed, but I doubt it. My niece works for the IRS in Kansas City. I don't know if she is out on the street yet and hopefully she saved some money to carry her and child over until this shutdown BS is over.
Just read a tweet sent out Friday by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
"I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous.
Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too!
Have a great weekend everyone :)"
This young lady is amazing. She's already hitting hard at the rightwingers by proposing tax rates on the uber-wealthy up to 70%.
Most honest and progressive-minded person in government...
You go girl! :-)
The Big MAGAts reaction to Rashida's, "Impeach the MFer" was just the latest in hypocrisy.
Well, I thought her comments were disgraceful. This is a person that I don’t know. I assume she’s new. I think she dishonored herself, and I think she dishonored her family. Using language like that in front of her son, and whoever else was there, I thought that was a great dishonor to her and to her family. I thought it was it was highly disrespectful to the United States of America.
Right, not at all as disrespectful as Kanye West saying the same thing IN THE OVAL OFFICE!
"Right, not at all as disrespectful as Kanye West saying the same thing IN THE OVAL OFFICE!" ~~ Dave Dubya
Of course not. Don't forget, Kanya's a "real smart guy". ;-)
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