4 ms·

> There's plenty of rational reason on the right. If you don't agree, read Thomas Sowell and I bet you'll be forced to reconsider. In principle I agree with yo

by cr0sh 10y ago

> There's plenty of rational reason on the right. If you don't agree, read Thomas Sowell and I bet you'll be forced to reconsider. In principle I agree with you; there -are- plenty of rational, well educated conservatives. They may have great and rational reasons for being conservative (both on social and economic issues, among others). That's all well and good. I may or may not agree with their views, but I applaud their methods and thoughts at arriving to them. Unfortunately - at least in the United States - these kinds of conservatives seem to be in the quiet minority within the modern conservative Republican party. If they were at the forefront, we wouldn't be seeing what we are experiencing today. At least - I hope not. Today's conservative movement looks nothing like what we usually think of conservative ideals from the past - in either thoughts, actions, or rhetoric. There are echoes, of course, but most of what we see today is that of partisan nationalistic authortarianism, with the conservatism you're describing being drowned out by the shouting of bigots, liars, and thieves. The frightening part is that a large portion of our population seem to want this form of "government". They either don't see the danger, or ignorantly think it won't turn around and bite them in the end. There isn't any room for discourse or discussion on the pros and cons of any of the rhetoric or legislation. It's instead "my way or gtfo" governance.

andrei_says_ 10y ago
George Lakoff did an excellent linguistic analysis of conservative vs. liberal political speech, metaphors and framing in his lecture Moral Politics. I found it extremely valuable in understanding the driving and defining forces behind the two movements. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM
dragonwriter 10y ago
> Today's conservative movement looks nothing like what we usually think of conservative ideals from the past It looks a lot like classical conservatism. It doesn't look a lot like the Republican Party during the early part of the late-20th Century political realignment where it was starting to become a conservative party but had to be careful with it's rhetoric to maintain unity because it still had a lot of Northeastern and West Coast moderates and even liberals, and is extreme compared even to the Republican Party's extreme during the late part of that realignment (e.g., under Reagan.) But that's just because the realignment (which continued past Reagan, and was largely complete by the turn of the millennium) is now not only complete but also the party establishment has largely adapted to it being complete.

by cr0sh 10y ago

andrei_says_ 10y ago

George Lakoff did an excellent linguistic analysis of conservative vs. liberal political speech, metaphors and framing in his lecture Moral Politics. I found it extremely valuable in understanding the driving and defining forces behind the two movements. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM

dragonwriter 10y ago

> Today's conservative movement looks nothing like what we usually think of conservative ideals from the past It looks a lot like classical conservatism. It doesn't look a lot like the Republican Party during the early part of the late-20th Century political realignment where it was starting to become a conservative party but had to be careful with it's rhetoric to maintain unity because it still had a lot of Northeastern and West Coast moderates and even liberals, and is extreme compared even to the Republican Party's extreme during the late part of that realignment (e.g., under Reagan.) But that's just because the realignment (which continued past Reagan, and was largely complete by the turn of the millennium) is now not only complete but also the party establishment has largely adapted to it being complete.