My Understanding of Conservativism has changed as Life revealed itself

[PurgedVoter]

While I was in grade school I bet a teacher that Humphery would win. I thought I was conservative. Conservative meant, to me, respect to parents, wanting a family one day, and being willing to work for a living. I thought it was all about ethics. So for me being for Humphery and being a conservative against Nixon made perfect sense. Humphery was for racial rights so I was for Humphery. I loved my paternal grandfather dearly, but his racism taught me not to be a racist early on.

I delivered fliers for McGovern in middle school and at the time, I thought I was conservative. Conservative meant, to me, respect to parents, wanting a family one day, and being willing to work for a living and not doing drugs. Again I thought it was all about ethics. McGovern over Nixon was an easy choice. At the time though I was beginning to question conservatism. It was clear to me that liberals didn't think you should take drugs, and they took care of families and went to church the same as conservatives.

In high school I saw the conservatives that had been saying "Respect and support the office of the president," quickly turn it around and decide that Carter deserved no respect and the office of the president was too sullied to respect. In high school I saw that those who most loudly claimed to be conservative were also bullies. I saw that the conservative members of the debate team were pretty much evil. I examined the libertarian party, and while I was tempted by the non violent goals, I also noticed that liberals might protest for an end to violence, but libertarians just twisted non-violence into a hatred for taxes. Because taxes were violence. As it has ended up, there is no evidence of nonviolence in libertarian behavior and a lot of evidence of the reverse.

By the end of high school I was aware that what the leaders of a movement did was the true representation of where the movement was going. Conservativism lost it's shine as I examined what William Frank Buckley Jr supported. His support for McCarthyism was just part of the problem. In every case war was justified, and taxes were evil.
When I looked at what conservatives at the bottom end of the economic ladder did, and what conservatives on the top of the ladder did, the real question came to me and it has stayed with me. I had always heard of conservative values and I believed in them. The problem I had was that I could not name one. Liberals followed all the named conservative values that could be considered values as well if not better than conservatives.

So I was gently liberal and beginning to suspect that the core of conservative values resembled the stuff Ayn Rand preached. Total selfishness.

Then in 1990 I heard Robin Williams talk about homelessness in front of congress. That made it clear to me that selfishness and deceit were what you could expect from Republicans and the more conservative the Republican, the more selfish and deceitful.

This view on conservatism has remained stable until recently. After listening to Rachel Maddow's amazing Ultra podcasts and seeing Liz Cheney's response to Jan 6, I have had to adjust my view. Conservative means different things to different people. In general it means a person is weak to brainwashing and will accept deceit and support their team even if it leads to fascism. If a person is rich it means greed without need. And the core of what it means to be conservative is that you wish evil on those outside your group. Oddly while wishing evil, they can be generous and kind, but they will happily hate you for idiotic reasons pushed by their cult leaders. For example, they will happily hate you if you drive a Prius or wear a mask to prevent disease.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Good analysis. . . . nt

[TwilightZone]

2. Today's conservatives are a different animal.

Nixon would be a liberal on the scale of present-day conservatism. So would George HW Bush, to some degree.

Even W has been labeled a RINO, and he's on record being highly critical of the fear tactics and the direction the party has taken. It's funny in hindsight how conservative we thought he was, and he's not even in the same ballpark as people like Cruz or Trump or anyone on the Freedom Caucus.

Speaking of Buckley, the National Review has gone completely off the deep end. It used to be held up as the standard of modern conservatism (even while often loaded with hackery), but it's now jam-packed with intentional ignorance, Trump apologists, overt bigotry, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theorists.

[zipplewrath]

3. It's a old joke

There is an old joke that has more truth than anyone wants to admit.

Liberals wake up every morning worrying that someone, somewhere is lacking something they need.

Conservatives wake up every morning worrying that someone, somewhere is getting something they don't deserve.

The truth be told, liberals often tend to believe they can solve everyone's problems.

The problem is conservatives believe that helping anyone with their problems somehow disempowers them and robs them of their "freedom".

Yes, you can help too much. But you can also help too little.

[Think. Again.]

4. Calling a rightwinger "conservative" is like calling a cigarette a "smokietreat"....

The political label "conservative" is just blatant camoflage for exploitative sadism.

Dangerously malicious people of any kind, including politically malicious people such as self-labelled "conservatives", must be removed from society for public safety purposes.

[harumph]

5. I agree that it has become just another convenient label.

(1) I'm cautious in general - but not knee jerk opposed - to sweeping policy changes, (2) want to conserve the environment for future generations and (3) believe in the profit motive - but with reasonable limits, (4) believe that a civilized country must have taxes. Does the foregoing define me as conservative?

[Think. Again.]

7. No, that defines you as reasonable...

If you were attempting to trick fellow Americans out of their rights, securities, and well-being for your own personal gain and enjoyment, that would define you as a political "conservative".

[Qutzupalotl]

6. About wishing evil on those outside your group...

I would say that it is not only conservatives doing that, though it mostly is There are many here who wish ills would befall their opponents, and not just Trump. I understand that we have received s lot of that, and most are just frustrated and venting, but online one can never tell how many of them mean it, and how seriously. And it's nonstop from the right. So our cultural overall discourse has devolved. The result is we have been living in a sea of toxic hate, and it does have effects on the brain and body. But it is a choice.

I'd say it was more of a question of moderates vs. extremists that influences who is more likely to hate and desire to harm their neighbor, and perhaps resort to violence on the one hand, and who is willing to live and let live. One is the American ideal, and the other is clearly unAmerican. We have to get along first, before anything.

[Metaphorical]

8. Terminology

It should be noted that "Conservative" and "Liberal" were both terms first invented by conservatives.

Conservatives preserve "social values" or "economic values", typically the status quo power structures. By and large the attitude can be thought of as the propagation of privilege, though of course this is never actually brought up where others can hear. In general, liberals (at least in US usage) can be taken to mean anything that is not conservative, meaning anything that threatens those who benefit from the status quo.

[Think. Again.]

10. And it's very obviously NOT true that "conservatives"...

...are trying to, or want to, preserve "social values" or "economic values", or the status quo power structures.

The hypocrisy of rightwingers trying to pretend they stand for those things is off the charts, but in character for them.

[DFW]

9. I consider myself to be conservative as defined in English--NOT as defined in Republicanese

I have always kept this as a reminder:

I am your classic conservative, at least as defined in a dictionary of the English language (as opposed to Republicanese).

I still work for the same outfit that recruited me out of college in 1975. I have been with the same wonderful woman since 1974. We have raised two solid, intelligent children who have grown up, think independently, did well in their respective colleges, and have jobs in which they earn their own living, have stable, long-term relationships, and are well-respected in their chosen fields.

I am risk-averse, and do not like to make rash, un-thought-out decisions. I have no debts. I have no addictions, not even to alcohol, religion, gambling, or nicotine. My favorite American philosopher is the 18th century Thomas Jefferson.

I am the epitome of “conservative.” Why am I a Democrat? Simple: I do not believe that having a different ethnic background, belief, or income makes one a superior or an inferior being to myself.

** in Republicanese, a "conservative" means someone who is obsessed with hate, fear, and accumulation of wealth. Just like the French word "sensible" means "sensitive" in English, the Republicanese word "conservative" may be spelled just like the word "conservative" in English, but in Republicanese, it means something entirely different. For more on Republicanese, please refer to "Excerpts from the Official Dictionary of Republicanese."