Much is made now that the current GOP is the “Party of No”. But let’s remember that throughout American history conservatives have always been against progress. Whether it was first the Democrats in the 19th century or ultra conservative Republicans in the late 20th and early 21st century conservatives have tried to set the nation backward or maintain the status quo.
The Ronald Reagan Republican Party wanted to set us back to the 1950’s before the civil rights movement, Medicare and Medicaid. However the current anti-science Republican Party is not satisfied with moving the nation back to 1950s, instead they would rather go back to the 1850s because they reject all the ideas of the Scientific Revolution.
One of the problems we face today is that there are conservatives in both the Republican and Democratic Parties.
My personal philosophy is that if a political system moves too far right or left on a one way highway each extreme winds you up in the ditch. In political and societal development that are forever intertwined there is only going forward (progressivism) or going backward (conservatism). To avoid obstacles in the road sometimes you need to veer left or right depending on the circumstances. Of course the Bush Administration has ended us up in the bumpy shoulder going 60 MPH in reverse. So the country needs to stop going backwards, shift it into overdrive, step on the gas and make a major correction to the left just to get back on the road and move forward once again.
I like to publish this list periodically which is compiled from other progressives and things I’ve added. It truly demonstrates how conservatives have only held this country. Feel free to add to the list.
Conservatives wanted to stay loyal to England.
Conservatives wanted to make President a life-long appointment.
Conservatives fought against bringing in slave-free states without slave-holding states.
Conservatives fought for the 5/8 rule that counted slaves.
Conservatives fought for secession from the Union because they wanted to keep slaves.
Conservatives fought against woman’s suffrage movement.
Conservatives fought for prohibition.
Conservatives want to conserve everything but the environment and natural resources.
Conservatives think science should by made by ideological policy not that science should make policy.
Conservatives wanted to keep us out of WWI and WWII and lied us into war in Iraq.
Conservatives created Jim Crow laws.
Conservatives terrorized African Amercans by lynching thousands.
Conservatives fought against integration.
Conservatives put up “whites only” signs.
Conservatives fought against the civil rights act.
Conservatives wanted to stay in Vietnam.
Conservatives don’t believe in the separation of church and state.
Conservatives believe in torture and taking away privacy rights.
Conservatives eliminated state-run asylums and put those with mental health problems out in the street.
Conservatives don’t believe in organized labor and fight to break unions.
Conservatives brought you homelessness and huge deficits.
Conservatives back corporations and big business by giving them all the tax cuts and tax loopholes.
Conservatives tried to eliminate welfare for people but support corporate welfare.
Conservatives want to keep gay Americans 2nd class citizens by denying them the same rights the rest of us enjoy.
Conservatives deny Global Climate Change and fight ANY environmental legislation.
Conservatives fought against Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Conservatives gave us the Patriot Act.
Conservatives only represent the interests of rich white men and corporations.
Conservatives want higher standards in schools but don’t want to build new schools or pay teachers what they deserve.
Conservatives want to teach Intelligent Design in schools instead of the scientific theory of evolution.
Conservatives want to do away with the education cabinet post.
Conservatives believe we are a Christian nation want religion imposed into all aspects of your life.
Conservatives advocated the war and occupation in Iraq.
Conservatives advocate going back to the Gold Standard which was responsible for making the Depression worse.
Conservatives want to do away with Medicare for old people and with Medicaid for poor people.
Conservatives see no problem with our spending $2,500,000,000.00 per week in Iraq but resist spending 20% that on universal healthcare.
Conservatives support NAFTA and other job-busting free trade agreements.
Conservatives hang nooses on school grounds.
Conservatives are against conserving the environment, wild life and energy.
Conservatives have no solutions so they vote “NO” for any change.
Conservatives put party ahead of country and hope the president fails.
Conservatives call the president racial epithets like “Magic Negro”.
Conservatives fought for deregulation which led to the banking crisis and are fighting new regulations now.
Conservatives are against any attempt to provide universal health care or health insurance to American citizens.
Conservatives from the “blue dogs” and Democrats in congress are fighting against a robust public option.
KQUARK: first, let me just tell you that when looking for this article, I was absolutely blown to kingdom come by the wealth of content you have put on this site. I can spend days and days reading your wonderful posts! When will I ever get the time?! (But I’ll MAKE the time.) Just, WOW. I am so impressed and admiring!
Anyway, back to this subject. You do what i like to do, which is try to put things in perpsective by looking to our history, and sure enough, I always find that things have been worse in times past. Conservatism has an inglorious history– that’s indisputable!
And BTW– you also have great taste in music!
Nice job.
Continued….
The Party of No!(a personal fave)…
The Party of Slobbering Invective…
The Party of Glen Becks fake tears….
The Party of Sean Hannitys’ distortion….
The Party of “Fair and Balanced”…(ahahhahahahaha)…
The Party of Countless Barack Obama racial slurs…..
The Party of Michael Savage aka Michael Alan Weiner……
The Party of “Health care is fine”…..ponderous…..
The Party of Bill O’Reilly…the “independent”….Pbbsstt!
The Party of Arnold Schwarzenegger…Ha!
The Party of the shrinking electorate…..
Please….add if you wish..I’m sure I missed TONS…..
SeeknDestroy
The Party of Fear Mongering…
The Party of Pat Buchanan…
The Party of War Mongering.
The Party of No New Ideas…
The Party of Rush Limbaugh…
The Party of Hate Crime deniers…
The Party of Status Quo…
The Party of Science deniers…
The Party of Drill Baby Drill…
The Party of Sarah Palin…(hahahahahahahaha)
The Party of Ecological Disaster….
The Party of Budgets with no numbers…(again..ahahahahaha)
The Party of No leadership….
The Party of Michael Steele…(heh)
The Party of Economic destruction….
The Party of The Bush Family…..
The Party of Religious Hypocrisy…
Continued……..
Great compilation!
Thanks.
I will expound later, if my brain cooperates…
Good to see you…
Seen on HuffPost, as posted by LooktotheLeft, and very apropos to this thread:
“Time for another heaping helping of Republican cake. Here’s the recipe:
2 cups of hypocrisy
1 cup of lies, h*ate, and innuendo
1/2 cup of repressed s*exuality
1 stick of nauseatingly fake religiosity
1 cup of jingoism (blind patriotism may be substituted)
2 teaspoons of fear mongering
1/2 teaspoon of shameless pandering
2 cups of harmful, v*ile, and inappropriate humor
a pinch of charlatanism (to taste)
I thought the only way to destroy ultimate evil was to douse with gasoline and set on fire.
The critters could get at it in the garbage!
Or as they in “Aliens”: Nuke the site from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure.
LOL…Nice…
“critters in the garbage”….lol
😆
http://books.google.com/books?id=9F7i5u4sOtgC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=aristocracy+and+conservatism&source=bl&ots=unx9aM-02v&sig=-lWwivuyIWwy1TxAvA630UyXU0Q&hl=en&ei=CvjuSvqpH5OltgeQ68Ey&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CB0Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=aristocracy%20and%20conservatism&f=false
Page 17, primarily anti-humanitarianism is the crux of the matter.
Horrible bloody people in my opinion.
Let me play devil’s advocate briefly. Are there any conservative values that are worth keeping?
Making changes at a deliberate pace?
Balancing budgets?
Saving for a rainy day?
Taking responsibility for oneself?
Valuing hard work?
Sobriety?
(Not that Liberals don’t hold these values.)
And–more importantly–are there any “conservatives” now who actually do?
Morning kesmarn, there are ‘Conservative Citizens’ that live by these principles, but I’m at a loss to name a ‘Conservative Politician’ that does…
Kesmarn……..did the Conservatives EVER really live by their supposed values? I certainly don’t remember a period in history, at least since I’ve been alive, that they really did.
Good point. Or were they like Ben Franklin who gave advice to others that he seldom followed himself?
Ha ha……perhaps.
Or could it be that they espoused those values in order to create a following yet never had true intentions of living by those values?
Morning nicole…The conserv values look good on paper and like you I don’t recall a real conservative politician who actually implemented conserv policy or lived by these values…
Good morning, BDM!! 🙂
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Those are pretty much my values…
… except the “deliberate pace” one. I want the world to change … yesterday.
Great list. I love someone playing Devil’s advocate. That’s what the planet is all about. I’ll answer one by one.
Conservatives want no change even at a slow pace. In fact most want to go backwards. I think things like urban sprawl need to be slowed down but for most progressives that’s not the type of progress we value anyway.
You can’t balance budgets without raising taxes sometimes. While the Dems are offering a fiscally neutral healthcare plan, conservatives PAID FOR NOTHING under Bush.
We did not save for a rainy day under Bush. In fact we were encouraged to spend about our means and that helped create the bubbles. Again conservatives think short term where progressives think about investing n the future.
Conservatives value the old ways of white man entitlement to all the wealth in this country. Progressives value everyone getting the proper education and help so that every one can reach their potential. Again conservatives failed world view hinders real progress through hard work.
Sobriety? Think about the hypocrisy of the conservatives again. I would much rather be driving on a highway with a driver smoking pot even if it was illegal in that state than with a driver who was drinking and taking prescription drugs. Wouldn’t you?
George Lakoff would say these are shared values. Conservatives, however, pretend it is only they who abide by them. If we all value family self-sufficiency, say, then – why have the conservatives made rules for the poor and working people that make family self-sufficiency IMPOSSIBLE? The older conservatives really did dislike welfare for its dependence. They favored programs that helped people stand up on their own. But for virtually ALL my adult life, those ideals have been squelched in favor of shifting risk to the lower income groups and eliminating opportunity. The RW today is a party of aristocratic privilege NOT conservative values.
Here is a very interesting article almost a treatise called “Why Conservatives are Always Wrong”. It’s a great read.
http://conservativesarealwayswrong.googlepages.com/
Great link, KQ……thank you!
This is an amazing article. Please, if you all have time, check it out.
Is this Jefferson Smith the Rep from Oregon?
GREAT! Thank you!
Whenever a discussion, such as this, comes up regarding the worth of Conservatisim, I’ve often found solice out of reading from Roget’s Thesaurus and laugh my ass off. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Main Entry: conservative
Synonyms:
Tory, bourgeois, constant, controlled, conventional, die-hard, fearful, firm, fogyish, fuddy-duddy, guarded, hard hat, hidebound, holding to, illiberal, in a rut, inflexible, middle-of-the-road, not extreme, obstinate, old guard, old line, orthodox, quiet, reactionary, redneck, right, right of center, right-wing, sober, stable, steady, timid, traditional, traditionalistic, unchangeable, unchanging, uncreative, undaring, unimaginative, unprogressive, white bread
——————————————————————-
HERE’S THE CONTRAST
Main Entry: liberal
Synonyms:
advanced, avant-garde, broad, broad-minded, catholic, enlightened, flexible, free, general, high-minded, humanistic, humanitarian, indulgent, intelligent, interested, latitudinarian, left, lenient, libertarian, loose, magnanimous, permissive, radical, rational, reasonable, receiving, receptive, reformist, tolerant, unbiased, unbigoted, unconventional, understanding, unorthodox, unprejudiced
Great addition it really says it all.
Another poster gave me a link to a psych pol to determine you political leanings. I just can’t believe the majority of people would be rated conservative based on the way they would have to answer the questionnaire.
These are some interesting tests that end up rating you as liberal or conservative — might be the ones you mentioned.
http://www.yourmorals.org/explore.php
😆 That crazy bat would be enough to turn the power off around the globe with those demonic eyes.
What in the hell IS a conservative?
And how does that differ from a reactionary?
I’m with you the only real conservation I understand to be worth while is conserving the state of the environment and natural resources. Otherwise conservatives are just knee-jerk reactionaries that want to hinder any progress or bomb something as responses to domestic and international crises, respectively.
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/conservatism.html
My favorite answer to that question.
Excellent. I will read the whole thing later. You should like the article I posted. There are many similar themes.
Yes, thank you. We’ve pretty much covered the matter. I read your article and realized there would be a lot of duplication.
I have to go back and find it, but my favorite article had to do with the aristocracy of conservatism. How lazy is that?! 🙂
To answer the last question I would have to answer with, lost an election for the Senate, retired from office and lost their bid for the White House like McGrumpy and Crazy Sarah did last year. Can’t think of anything positive, my brain is clogged with their overwhelming failures.
Great post, KQ. It reminded me of all the varied reasons why I am a Progressive, and why Progressives must keep speaking out on the issues.
I think that the Republican Party itself is no longer the party of what were once called “Conservatives”. They are now an entity controlled by the far right, who are capable of being just as extreme as the Taliban if allowed to do so.
True conservatives are now more closely aligned with Democrats, albeit, conservative (blue dogs) Democrats.
My belief is that eventually, the two major parties will be the Progressives and the ConservaDems.
In the meantime, because they are so dangerous to our way of life, we must marginalize the far right as much as possible.
Great post Nicole, I was thinking of writting a post on “How do you try to help a Conservative to see more clearly?”
I do believe in marginalizing the fringe, but what happens if in your own family or circle of friends you have ones that believe the crap that Faux Some News spews forth…How can will deal with these people, how can we, should I dare say it, see the light?
Wouldn’t it be more productive to sway others over to a better, more common sense way a thinking?
“Wouldn
Unfortunately, my husbands family all watch Fox and when we get together, politics is always the main subject…
I have managed to sway my sister-in-law into fact checking what they say there and to disbel some myths in regards to the economy…and I just gave Big Al, my father-in-law, Jeff Sherlot’s book ‘The Family’…so there is hope
I feel for ya!! If they’re willing to listen to you, that’s a good thing, and I would likely do the same.
In my case I get so worked up, someone is liable to want to off me instead of change their opinion. 😆
I prefer to think of it as enlightening people. But I’ve also discovered that the vast majority of people don’t want to be enlightened. I have a friend who is a blue dog democrat with some social enlightenment. However, he has more than a few areas which he is aware of but makes excuses for. I can inform him when he makes lapses but he regresses readily. Admittedly, he is older, but that’s no excuse. I knew rabble rousing professionals (union members, too) who in their 80s still kicked butt. But he is a firm believer in the markets, although he has, as far as I can tell, held no corporate jobs in his life. And, of course, to him I’m a “Big Labor Democrat” because I did come from the working life and multi-generational union family, and believe strongly in such things as labor rights and negotiation. But some people just don’t get it.
We certainly need a new age of enlightenment in this country. That’s a huge part of our problem.
That’s the reason conservatives hate education and science because they realize if people do think for themselves their entire party is doomed. That’s also the reason only 6% of scientists call themselves Republicans. I kid you not it was a recent Pew poll.
Good points. I would also venture a guess that most of those involved in quackery/woo science and the like, are conservatives.
Thank you but I can’t take full credit. I think we must all take stock of our beliefs from time to time.
Europe already has progressive parties and a party of conservadem types. They have fringe ultra right and left parties as well but for the most part for this country to succeed we need a major turn towards progress or we are doomed.
Scary but true…Kquark you have nailed the “The Family”‘s tenants for American Fundamentalism….I concur with Javaz on her additions and changes, especially the need for Conservatives to control women’s lives and bodies…Thank you for another great post
Even though I grew up around a lot of conservatives, I didn’t have the understanding of what it was all about until the Vietnam War. Found my draft card from 1971 the other day, my mother had saved it. But we had Aunt Theresa and her family, who were extreme fundies even back then. Having been brought up in the great middle American Christian sect (Methodist) I thought everyone was cool religiously except Aunt Theresa. Well, then I went to her younger daughters Babtist wedding and caught the full St. Paul “the woman shall submit to the man” routine and was appalled. Now being 18 in the heart of the sexual revolution gave me more appreciation for everyone’s responsibilities for their own bodies, and not the concept of control over anothers.
One of the things I find sad about what I’ve seen this year with this reversion movement is everything we worked hard for in the 1960’s is being fought against nearly a half century later.
Have you read Jeff Sharlot’s book ‘The Family’, everything that Kquark lists here on conservs is what they truly strive for…Reagan took these beliefs and ran with them, Bush just re-inforced them.
This belief system or tenants have permiated our government and society since the 50’s, they believe that a few ‘Chosen Ones of Wealth’, chosen by Christ, will lead the rest of us peons…
Their biggest threat for them came in the sixties, we were not conforming to ‘their values’…we had our own minds then, we were not sheepishly following along with their program.
Haven’t you noticed that when a Dem is in office, things change socially, financially and citizens rights are expanded. And when a Republican is in office we go 10 steps backwards..
I feel for Obama, this is years of entrenchment of their policies that have to be over turned, I just hope he is up for it and that the rest of America is patient enough to wait it out..
Good point I believe religious fundamentalism is behind many of our problems and something the more secular nations don’t have to worry about impeding their progress.
Excellent article!
But I must correct one on the list :
Conservatives wanted to make President a life-long appointment, ONLY when a Conservative is President.
And add :
Conservatives want only one party to rule the USA – The Conservative Republican Party.
Conservatives want to control women’s lives and bodies by denying them birth control and the right to choose, while providing Viagra for free!
And like their brethen in Afghanistan, the Taliban, they enjoy the benefits of Viagra! Did any of you catch our “strategy” of handing out Viagra to some of the graybeards in Afghanistan??? Like those poor women do not have enough to contend with…..
I did read something about that, and yes, it is truly disgusting.
Yeah. Purely disgusting!!
You would not believe how many Priest go in to fill their Viagra prescriptions, per my sister the Pharmacist…which is covered under the churches health insurance…of course….
Same problem w/ the Taliban. Young boys often used for sex because “they are not allowed to see women”. I personally think it has to more to do with a women bearing 7 to 10 children and not having access to “reconstructive surgery”, if you get the drift. For some Talib, it is a badge of honor to have a bacha bereesh (beardless boy) or bacha buzey (boy-toy). Guess that is more like the pedophiles found in the priesthood………
…and sorry to bring up such a topic, but it irritates me that they pretend to be “holy men”, and be observant of their faith, yet this goes on and no one talks about it (except the man who wrote the Kite Runner, and the George Crile in Charlie Wilson’s War). I won’t mention it again, and I apologize again if I offended anyone. I like this site, and don’t want to alienate (gross out??) anyone….
Don’t apologize.
I don’t know much about this and hope you write an article about it and inform us all!
Don’t be sorry about bringing up anything that is the raw truth. We have had smoke blown up our asses for so long that we need to come back to reality.
Whew! Thanks to you both. wow, it feels so good to be…..free…
Thanks for such a great site and thanks to each of the posters I’ve encountered here. I followed many of you on HP, but didn’t interact much.
Nice to meet ya’ll!
AlphaBitch, please don’t hold back on anything. I’m getting so much from your insights, you’re filling in gaps of knowledge about Afghanistan I didn’t know I had.
This is a site for serious discussions, what you’re sharing is very important and valuable, it needs to get out and inform people (me included).
Thanks and please keep it coming!
Please don’t apologize, your knowledge on this subject is unbelievable…this is why I am here, to learn and discuss….keep it up..I had no idea that they did this…but then again we have it here in the catholic churches…please write more on this subject..thanks
Truth is truth no matter how uncomfortable it will make some.
I think most of us here are open to anything that is truthful, so fear not, Alpha. 🙂
Great additions. James Adams the Federalist was one of the most anti-Democratic forces among the founding fathers. He is one of the main reasons the Senate is the way it is today.