Professional Rightwing politicians don't believe in freedom, equality, opportunity for all as they like to claim, ONLY MONEY/WEALTH! and protect the life, liberty only for those who acquire it
Conservative Professionals Political Despotism..cont. from Conservative Clan Mentatlity
From the Mom and Pop clan mentality http://mahilena.typepad.com/blog/2012/03/the-conservative-clan-mentality-we-are-superior-you-are-un-american.html
let's turn to a much smaller, but far more powerful group of conservatives who have thought about politics (at least) very carefully and know full well how to work it to their advantage.
Political Conservative power-mongers are are a quantum leap apart from Mom and Pop Conservative. Whereas we might grant the benefit of the doubt of inner goodness to Mom and Pop, professional conservatives are a different breed entirely. These have been megalomaniacal, greed-serving, power-consolidating, exploitative and dangerous villains of the first order. Read that sentence again. It sounds like over-the-top hyperbole, but it is the simple truth. Conservative politicians and corporate, religious and cultural leaders have been among the most harmful individuals ever to walk the American landscape.
These thugs and pirates have plundered America's treasure, raped its landscape, attempted to keep huge swaths of the general public confused and ignorant, sent us into ill-conceived wars, and violate the Constitution at will. Even a cursory glance at American history will reveal a slimy litany of abuses perpetrated upon the American people, and the republic itself, by those of the conservative persuasion.
Have there been abuses by liberals? Of course. No one is immune to the temptations that await those in power. But a liberal must abandon their principles to engage in nefarious activity. Nefarious activity is built into the professional conservative ethos. Why? Because liberals at least demonstrate some partiality in protecting the commons and the "general welfare" of "We the People", whereas above all, the conservatives worship money and power.
The depth of the depravity and damage wreaked by conservatives over the span of this nation's existence far exceeds the liberal record of small-time corruption and lapse of judgement. Two of the most recent presidents are precisely cases in point. Bill Clinton engaged in a sex act in office. There are no excuses. It was stupid, a betrayal of the American people, a betrayal of his party. But no one was killed. The economy was not affected. America's standing in the world was not diminished. Not an iota of lasting damage to the republic was the result. Indeed, President Clinton left the nation in better shape than he received it. By contrast, George W. Bush presided over a seemingly endless parade of debacles, lies, secrets, scandals, record deficits, humiliations, incompetencies that actually did involve wars, people dying, an economy "in shambles" (John McCain's words), and the United States of America being left in a position severely worsened during his tenure.
The modern conservative movement dates back to the 18th Century's Age of Reason. Of course, the conservatives were against it.
Reason, or rationality, was a dangerous thing according to the so-called "father of modern conservatism", Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Ironically, for his day Burke was comparatively liberal. In the British Parliament of the late 18th Century, there were far more conservative viewpoints than Burke's; these proved so backward no one claims them anymore. But Burke did represent the professional conservative politician's deep distrust of the common man. Instead, he believed that an aristrocracy or oligarchy of wealthy and educated elites were the natural rulers of any land, that the momentum of tradition, custom and heritage should prevail, and that the common man should not attempt to reason, but rather should bow to higher intellect and authority. It was, in effect, a continuation of clan mentality, where the herd follows stronger, superior leaders.
Burke also set the early template for the conservative's sense of entitlement. The concepts known as "property rights" and "the free market" established that a man (i.e. a wealthy man) should have unfettered control over his possessions, including goods for sale, regardless of how his control over those possessions may interfere with another man's rights or the common good. The wealthier a man was, the more "property rights" he could expect to acrue, even to the detriment of all of society. Governments should not interfere or attempt regulation of such rights of the free market (except in so far as a government might assist such a wealthy man to even greater advantage over his competitors). Much later, conservatives would conspire to bring this very same concept to the benefit of corporations. Edmund Burke would have loved that, being a shareholder in the notorious British East India Company, a monopoly, which would even before his death play a pivotal role in the American Revolution.
Edmund Burke, the patron saint of conservatives, was quite different from America's founding fathers, who did believe (albeit tentatively) in the rationality of the common man, and were very suspicious of oligarchy, aristocracy and corporations. Indeed, the American Revolution was instigated by revolt against a corporation! The Boston Tea Party was a protest against the monopoly that King George's (and Burke's) British East India Company attempted to foist upon the American colonies. The original "Tea Party" was a revolt against corporatism, a fact modern Tea-Partiers would do very well to ponder, and thereby re-aim their ire at the most dangerous monster threatening their freedom and way of life today!
Anticipating the gathering power of business and corporations, even in his day, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." How prescient a warning for us today as corporatism gains a strangle-hold on American economics, politics and culture, and how different a perspective from Edmund Burke and the conservatives.
Conservatism has always been about the rich and powerful. And the rich and powerful hate democracy. They hate the idea of liberty. They hate the idea that just anyone has the "inalienable" right to pursue happiness. They really hate the idea of equality. All of these ideals imply some sort of cultural balance. Professional conservatives don't want balance, they want money and power permanently tilted toward them and stacked in their favor, just like in the good old days of feudal lords.
You Mom and Pop Conservatives are being hoodwinked by the real leaders of the conservatives who could not care less about you, and only care about power and money. The leaders of conservatism laugh at you; they think you are an idiot, which they believe is proven by how easily you are prodded to follow the herd. The wizards atop the conservative pyramid scheme are ever mindful that to prevail in their quest to maintain the heirarchy that is beneficial to themselves and their aristocratic ilk, they must find a way to recruit great numbers of supporters who are willing to cast votes which may, actually, be against their own best interests.
How to do this? They certainly cannot be honest and say, "We are the party of, by and for the wealthy elite and corporations. Our credo is 'May the Rich get Richer.' Vote for us". But long ago, the conservatives realized they only had to divert and deceive, and divide and conquer. To do it was easy. Professional conservatives are natural liars, connivers and love keeping secrets from the general public. And to divide and conquer, they would simply have to capitalize (they do so love that word) on clan mentality: that is, feelings of superiority and fear.
Thus the modern conservative politician's alchemic blend of opposition to taxes and regulation, and "wedge issues" (gun control, abortion, immigration, gay rights, stem cell research, etc.), diverting the public's attention from their real motivations (putting more money and power in the pockets of the wealthy elite and corporations), encouraging public amnesia about colossal conservative failures, stoking the fires of bigotry, prejudice and blind faith in tradition, heritage, culture, suppressing voter turnout, and tying all of this up in a pretty little red-white-and-blue wrapped bouquet of patriotism, completely fake though it may be.
A certain, very large, segment of the American population just eats it up! They are completely blind to how they are being used by the aristocracy, the oligarchy, the professional conservatives. Yet this toxic blend of clan mentality - jingoism, greed, fear of the "other" and of "the end of our way of life" - has actually delivered innumerable elections, local, state and national to the conservatives. You have to hand it to them, professional conservatives know how to win, in the short run. In the long run, they always lose. Why? Because you can only struggle against truth and justice for so long. Inevitably, "the end of our way of life" comes to pass, and guess what, it's better!
Conservative tradition, custom, the status-quo always eventually gives way to liberal reason and rationale, to knowledge and scientific discoveries, to higher creativity and innovation, to expanded liberty and equality, and even to greater morality than the older way ever provided.
Thus America broke away from England, though the conservatives were against it. In America, they were the "Tories", still the name of the ultra-conservative party in England. The liberal principles of greater liberty and equality had been unleashed. Non-aristocratic men became empowered within the social, economic and political system. A little later, in the American liberal tradition, these rights were given even to non-propertied men, the very serfs that the conservative feudal lords had exploited. Public education was enacted. Slavery was abolished. Women got the right to vote. Children were removed from workhouses. Workers unionized and won labor rights. Social Security came into existence. Black Americans received their full rights under the Constitution. Consumers won rights and protections. The environment and endangered species became something to cherish and protect as national treasures. Gay Americans received rights. Conservatives fought, viciously, against each and every one of these advances. In one instance, the issue of slavery, it took a Civil War, the bloodiest episode in American history, to roll conservative clan mentality back into the dark age from which it emerged.
Thankfully, for all of us, conservatives may win some battles, but they always have, and always will, lose the war of ideas!
Conservatives will eventually lose the political, economic and cultural battles going on today, as well. Up until recently, they were on a winning roll. With his smiley face and perfect hair, Ronald Reagan conned the nation (and swaths of the rest of the world) into believing that it was "Morning in America". He claimed the nation's future depended upon the free market, free trade, deregulation, slashing taxes (particularly for the rich), corporate mergers, corporate welfare, corporate tax-evasion, union-busting, reliance on oil, and de-emphasis on environmental protections. Some called it "trickle-down" economics. Reagan's rival for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, George Bush, called it "VooDoo economics." After Reagan selected Bush to be his vice-president, we didn't hear any more about "VooDoo Economics." It was renamed "Reaganomics." But Bush was right. Like all conservative concepts, it didn't make sense.
What actually emerged from Reaganomics was the rich got richer; the poor got poorer; and the American middle class has been decimated by Reaganomics.
Ronald Reagan's eight years in office produced a frenzy of corporate takeovers, merger mania, savings & loan bail-outs, scandals, clandestine wars, war on drugs, propping up ruthless dictators, arming Saddam Hussein, arming Osama bin Laden, running up record budget deficits, running up record national debt, running up record trade deficits, giving corporations tax breaks to move jobs, factories and headquarters to other countries, privatization, cut-backs in social services, cut-backs in infrastructure, and eternally battling a boogie-man (back then it was the Soviets; now it's the terrorists). In hindsight, we can clearly see how ALL of Reagan's policies that the conservatives told us were absolutely correct were absolutely wrong!
Bill Clinton did little to turn the tide in his first term in office, then was stymied by a Republican Congress later on, though he did manage to balance the budget by the time he left office, leaving his successor with a record budget surplus. By the time George W. Bush took office, conservatives had the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. It actually seemed possible that the conservatives might be able to pull off, by hook or crook, that elusive "permanent Republican majority" they had long dreamed of.
The permanent majority... the dream of Karl Rove and the neoconservatives! So close, but then they went too far. Politically, Cheney-Bush was Reagan on steroids. Who could have predicted how bad it would turn out? Only all of history. Only conservative greed exceeds conservative incompetence.
The legacy of George W. Bush is a complete and utter disgrace, and a permanent stain upon America. Now it is crystal clear that conservative policies are no better now than they were back in the 1920s when the conservatives led us directly into the Great Depression. So it was not surprising in 2008 when the American public did exactly what it did in the election of 1932 and kicked the bums out!
Conservative leaders are scoundrels of the highest order; always have been and always will be. They are liars and crooks and thieves. It's in their DNA. They don't believe in freedom, they don't believe in equality, they don't believe in opportunity for all, they don't believe in reason, they don't believe in science, they don't believe in the pursuit of happiness. They don't believe in small government. They don't believe in your religion. They believe in money and power. Period. They think you are as dumb as a stump, and they do not have your best interests at heart... nor America's. They've been on the wrong side of every major issue in American history, from 1776 on through to today. Read your history, carefully, and follow the dollars... you will see who these "patriots" really are.
http://www.conservativemyths.com/
Political Conservative power-mongers are are a quantum leap apart from Mom and Pop Conservative. Whereas we might grant the benefit of the doubt of inner goodness to Mom and Pop, professional conservatives are a different breed entirely. These have been megalomaniacal, greed-serving, power-consolidating, exploitative and dangerous villains of the first order. Read that sentence again. It sounds like over-the-top hyperbole, but it is the simple truth. Conservative politicians and corporate, religious and cultural leaders have been among the most harmful individuals ever to walk the American landscape.
These thugs and pirates have plundered America's treasure, raped its landscape, attempted to keep huge swaths of the general public confused and ignorant, sent us into ill-conceived wars, and violate the Constitution at will. Even a cursory glance at American history will reveal a slimy litany of abuses perpetrated upon the American people, and the republic itself, by those of the conservative persuasion.
Have there been abuses by liberals? Of course. No one is immune to the temptations that await those in power. But a liberal must abandon their principles to engage in nefarious activity. Nefarious activity is built into the professional conservative ethos. Why? Because liberals at least demonstrate some partiality in protecting the commons and the "general welfare" of "We the People", whereas above all, the conservatives worship money and power.
The depth of the depravity and damage wreaked by conservatives over the span of this nation's existence far exceeds the liberal record of small-time corruption and lapse of judgement. Two of the most recent presidents are precisely cases in point. Bill Clinton engaged in a sex act in office. There are no excuses. It was stupid, a betrayal of the American people, a betrayal of his party. But no one was killed. The economy was not affected. America's standing in the world was not diminished. Not an iota of lasting damage to the republic was the result. Indeed, President Clinton left the nation in better shape than he received it. By contrast, George W. Bush presided over a seemingly endless parade of debacles, lies, secrets, scandals, record deficits, humiliations, incompetencies that actually did involve wars, people dying, an economy "in shambles" (John McCain's words), and the United States of America being left in a position severely worsened during his tenure.
The modern conservative movement dates back to the 18th Century's Age of Reason. Of course, the conservatives were against it.
Reason, or rationality, was a dangerous thing according to the so-called "father of modern conservatism", Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Ironically, for his day Burke was comparatively liberal. In the British Parliament of the late 18th Century, there were far more conservative viewpoints than Burke's; these proved so backward no one claims them anymore. But Burke did represent the professional conservative politician's deep distrust of the common man. Instead, he believed that an aristrocracy or oligarchy of wealthy and educated elites were the natural rulers of any land, that the momentum of tradition, custom and heritage should prevail, and that the common man should not attempt to reason, but rather should bow to higher intellect and authority. It was, in effect, a continuation of clan mentality, where the herd follows stronger, superior leaders.
Burke also set the early template for the conservative's sense of entitlement. The concepts known as "property rights" and "the free market" established that a man (i.e. a wealthy man) should have unfettered control over his possessions, including goods for sale, regardless of how his control over those possessions may interfere with another man's rights or the common good. The wealthier a man was, the more "property rights" he could expect to acrue, even to the detriment of all of society. Governments should not interfere or attempt regulation of such rights of the free market (except in so far as a government might assist such a wealthy man to even greater advantage over his competitors). Much later, conservatives would conspire to bring this very same concept to the benefit of corporations. Edmund Burke would have loved that, being a shareholder in the notorious British East India Company, a monopoly, which would even before his death play a pivotal role in the American Revolution.
Edmund Burke, the patron saint of conservatives, was quite different from America's founding fathers, who did believe (albeit tentatively) in the rationality of the common man, and were very suspicious of oligarchy, aristocracy and corporations. Indeed, the American Revolution was instigated by revolt against a corporation! The Boston Tea Party was a protest against the monopoly that King George's (and Burke's) British East India Company attempted to foist upon the American colonies. The original "Tea Party" was a revolt against corporatism, a fact modern Tea-Partiers would do very well to ponder, and thereby re-aim their ire at the most dangerous monster threatening their freedom and way of life today!
Anticipating the gathering power of business and corporations, even in his day, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." How prescient a warning for us today as corporatism gains a strangle-hold on American economics, politics and culture, and how different a perspective from Edmund Burke and the conservatives.
Conservatism has always been about the rich and powerful. And the rich and powerful hate democracy. They hate the idea of liberty. They hate the idea that just anyone has the "inalienable" right to pursue happiness. They really hate the idea of equality. All of these ideals imply some sort of cultural balance. Professional conservatives don't want balance, they want money and power permanently tilted toward them and stacked in their favor, just like in the good old days of feudal lords.
You Mom and Pop Conservatives are being hoodwinked by the real leaders of the conservatives who could not care less about you, and only care about power and money. The leaders of conservatism laugh at you; they think you are an idiot, which they believe is proven by how easily you are prodded to follow the herd. The wizards atop the conservative pyramid scheme are ever mindful that to prevail in their quest to maintain the heirarchy that is beneficial to themselves and their aristocratic ilk, they must find a way to recruit great numbers of supporters who are willing to cast votes which may, actually, be against their own best interests.
How to do this? They certainly cannot be honest and say, "We are the party of, by and for the wealthy elite and corporations. Our credo is 'May the Rich get Richer.' Vote for us". But long ago, the conservatives realized they only had to divert and deceive, and divide and conquer. To do it was easy. Professional conservatives are natural liars, connivers and love keeping secrets from the general public. And to divide and conquer, they would simply have to capitalize (they do so love that word) on clan mentality: that is, feelings of superiority and fear.
Thus the modern conservative politician's alchemic blend of opposition to taxes and regulation, and "wedge issues" (gun control, abortion, immigration, gay rights, stem cell research, etc.), diverting the public's attention from their real motivations (putting more money and power in the pockets of the wealthy elite and corporations), encouraging public amnesia about colossal conservative failures, stoking the fires of bigotry, prejudice and blind faith in tradition, heritage, culture, suppressing voter turnout, and tying all of this up in a pretty little red-white-and-blue wrapped bouquet of patriotism, completely fake though it may be.
A certain, very large, segment of the American population just eats it up! They are completely blind to how they are being used by the aristocracy, the oligarchy, the professional conservatives. Yet this toxic blend of clan mentality - jingoism, greed, fear of the "other" and of "the end of our way of life" - has actually delivered innumerable elections, local, state and national to the conservatives. You have to hand it to them, professional conservatives know how to win, in the short run. In the long run, they always lose. Why? Because you can only struggle against truth and justice for so long. Inevitably, "the end of our way of life" comes to pass, and guess what, it's better!
Conservative tradition, custom, the status-quo always eventually gives way to liberal reason and rationale, to knowledge and scientific discoveries, to higher creativity and innovation, to expanded liberty and equality, and even to greater morality than the older way ever provided.
Thus America broke away from England, though the conservatives were against it. In America, they were the "Tories", still the name of the ultra-conservative party in England. The liberal principles of greater liberty and equality had been unleashed. Non-aristocratic men became empowered within the social, economic and political system. A little later, in the American liberal tradition, these rights were given even to non-propertied men, the very serfs that the conservative feudal lords had exploited. Public education was enacted. Slavery was abolished. Women got the right to vote. Children were removed from workhouses. Workers unionized and won labor rights. Social Security came into existence. Black Americans received their full rights under the Constitution. Consumers won rights and protections. The environment and endangered species became something to cherish and protect as national treasures. Gay Americans received rights. Conservatives fought, viciously, against each and every one of these advances. In one instance, the issue of slavery, it took a Civil War, the bloodiest episode in American history, to roll conservative clan mentality back into the dark age from which it emerged.
Thankfully, for all of us, conservatives may win some battles, but they always have, and always will, lose the war of ideas!
Conservatives will eventually lose the political, economic and cultural battles going on today, as well. Up until recently, they were on a winning roll. With his smiley face and perfect hair, Ronald Reagan conned the nation (and swaths of the rest of the world) into believing that it was "Morning in America". He claimed the nation's future depended upon the free market, free trade, deregulation, slashing taxes (particularly for the rich), corporate mergers, corporate welfare, corporate tax-evasion, union-busting, reliance on oil, and de-emphasis on environmental protections. Some called it "trickle-down" economics. Reagan's rival for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, George Bush, called it "VooDoo economics." After Reagan selected Bush to be his vice-president, we didn't hear any more about "VooDoo Economics." It was renamed "Reaganomics." But Bush was right. Like all conservative concepts, it didn't make sense.
What actually emerged from Reaganomics was the rich got richer; the poor got poorer; and the American middle class has been decimated by Reaganomics.
Ronald Reagan's eight years in office produced a frenzy of corporate takeovers, merger mania, savings & loan bail-outs, scandals, clandestine wars, war on drugs, propping up ruthless dictators, arming Saddam Hussein, arming Osama bin Laden, running up record budget deficits, running up record national debt, running up record trade deficits, giving corporations tax breaks to move jobs, factories and headquarters to other countries, privatization, cut-backs in social services, cut-backs in infrastructure, and eternally battling a boogie-man (back then it was the Soviets; now it's the terrorists). In hindsight, we can clearly see how ALL of Reagan's policies that the conservatives told us were absolutely correct were absolutely wrong!
Bill Clinton did little to turn the tide in his first term in office, then was stymied by a Republican Congress later on, though he did manage to balance the budget by the time he left office, leaving his successor with a record budget surplus. By the time George W. Bush took office, conservatives had the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. It actually seemed possible that the conservatives might be able to pull off, by hook or crook, that elusive "permanent Republican majority" they had long dreamed of.
The permanent majority... the dream of Karl Rove and the neoconservatives! So close, but then they went too far. Politically, Cheney-Bush was Reagan on steroids. Who could have predicted how bad it would turn out? Only all of history. Only conservative greed exceeds conservative incompetence.
The legacy of George W. Bush is a complete and utter disgrace, and a permanent stain upon America. Now it is crystal clear that conservative policies are no better now than they were back in the 1920s when the conservatives led us directly into the Great Depression. So it was not surprising in 2008 when the American public did exactly what it did in the election of 1932 and kicked the bums out!
Conservative leaders are scoundrels of the highest order; always have been and always will be. They are liars and crooks and thieves. It's in their DNA. They don't believe in freedom, they don't believe in equality, they don't believe in opportunity for all, they don't believe in reason, they don't believe in science, they don't believe in the pursuit of happiness. They don't believe in small government. They don't believe in your religion. They believe in money and power. Period. They think you are as dumb as a stump, and they do not have your best interests at heart... nor America's. They've been on the wrong side of every major issue in American history, from 1776 on through to today. Read your history, carefully, and follow the dollars... you will see who these "patriots" really are.
http://www.conservativemyths.com/
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