CAPTAIN'S BLOG
An Ex-Conservative's Take On The Invalid Rational and Logical Basis of Modern Conservatism3/19/2017 In a word: Modern American Conservatism is garbage. It is an embarrassment to the political process, constantly betrays the principles it is thought to uphold, is fueled by ignorance, isolationism, paranoia, the worst parts of religion, and willful ignorance. I say this having grown up as a young Conservative in a relatively Conservative household. I appreciate some of the basic facts of Conservatism - an efficient government, a government generally uninvolved in the day to day lives of the people, and an economic system based upon Capitalism and a free market. The values espoused by those who claim to have read Atlas Shrugged seem flipped on their heads: I see wealthy cronies using their power and social influence to get people to do things that doesn't help anyone but themselves, going for zero-sum games when mutually-beneficial ones exist. My Conservatism died with the invention of fact checking via The Internet. To wit, I reject the notion that Wikipedia is an automatically invalid and biased source, and besides, I check my citations. First, we'll start with the basics. First off, I believe in small government too. A small government does not care which bathroom I use. A small government does not care if a woman has an abortion. A small government does not prevent scientists from reporting their discoveries A small government does not prevent scientific research for moral reasons A small government does not invest more in their military than any other nation. A small government does not care about my gender, or the gender of who I marry. A small government does not imprison people for behaviour like drug use or prostitution. A small government does not care if felons can vote. A small government does not imprison more people than any other nation in the world. A small government does not gerrymander districts. I also believe in an individual's right to be free. The pursuit of happiness. You are not free if you are one missed day of work away from losing your home. You are not free if you are one unplanned pregnancy away from losing your home or job. You are not free if you are unable to get a job because where you live, no one hardly ever sees a person of colour, or a queer person. You are not free if someone's irrational beliefs, religious or not, can curb your rights. You are not free if you are not making a Living Wage. You are not free if you have no time or energy to live your life. You are not free if you struggle to maintain employment because of your brain. You are not free if you struggle to maintain employment. I also believe in an efficiently run, not-wasteful government. It is more efficient and costs less to provide people with publicly funded healthcare. It is more efficient and costs less to provide people with education for free. It is more efficient and costs less to tax progressively - the more you earn, the larger percent you pay. It is more efficient and costs less to spend our money on science and technology than on war and defence. It is more efficient and costs less to reduce our CO2 emissions now rather than later. It is more efficient and costs less to leave LGBTQ people alone. It is more efficient and costs less to not punish drug use. It is more efficient and costs less to rehabilitate than to imprison. It is more efficient and costs less to provide Universal Basic Income than to provide Welfare and Employment Insurance. What Is Conservatism? How is it opposed to Liberalism?I asked my Father, the key conservative in my politically formative years, this question often.
Eventually we came to a foundational dichotomy that made some sense to me: Conservatism is about the preservation of the a culture and state as it currently is. Liberalism is about changing that culture and state to fit some new ideal. Both entail enforcement of some sort of moral principle - either it is morally right to prevent progress at the expense of the oppressed or it is morally right to expedite progress at the expense of the oppressors. A visual representation of these concepts (with much more detail) is available from the great Information Is Beautiful, in their piece "Left Vs Right". The joke when I was younger was that Liberals are wont to impulsively go for all of the things that they want without adequately considering the financial or moral or otherwise unexpected consequences. This has, indeed, become the joke of the Modern Conservative Movement - both in practice, and in their impressive ability to project their own prejudices and biases onto their political opponents with a blindness that takes one's breath away. The idea that Liberals are the ones who have their head in the clouds of dangerously wishful thinking while Conservatives stick to the practical and the "stick to what you know" and "common sense" thinking paradigms became hilarious the moment Trump was elected President - but it's funny for a while before that. He is the master of lying like an 8 year old - the narcissistic ideal of being right, and a grim reminder in how illusory free will can be to the truly malfunctioning. The simple fact of the matter is that we have reached the extent of what common sense can do for us. The very big and the very small and the very interconnected all behave in ways that do not make common sense. We've also been crippled by Conservatism's constant undermining of education - including the very foundations of public education as established by an old fashioned, heavily-capitalist society. Read On for more reflections on the failures of Modern Conservatism. We start with the rather bleak history of Conservatism, from the rejection of Climate Science to the rejection of the American Revolution.
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AuthorChristina Hitchens is a trans female writer living in BC, Canada. She loves computers, animals, and a good argument. Archives
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