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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy more Republicans aren't standing up to tRump and Putin
I think a lot of people who wonder why more Republicans aren't standing up to tRump and Putin are missing the bigger picture.
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Goonch
(3,818 posts)Madam45for2923
(7,178 posts)Madam45for2923
(7,178 posts)ElkeH
(105 posts)Business, nationalism, religion, and Putin. Their interests are all overlapping, thus setting the right conditions for the perfect fecal storm. Expect an unprecedented erosion of human rights and labor rights and don't expect the average Republican to be willing to pull the brakes.
Caliman73
(11,767 posts)Yes, there have been supposedly leftist movements that have developed authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but if you think about the ideas of Conservatism and Progressives/Liberalism the words themselves tell you what you are looking at.
Conservatism is about keeping the old order, the old traditions. It is manifested differently in different countries, but it is about halting change. In the United States, conservatives talk about "traditional family values" and "free market ideals", which in the first place, are a fiction, and equally important, are based in White Christian male supremacy. Conservatives often talk about a time when things were better, when they made more sense, but they can never tell you exactly when that was, or we Progressives know that inside of those "eras of prosperity" or "better times" the benefits were never equally shared and large portions of the population (women, minorities, LGBT people) were shut out. They cite how the free market allowed the country to expand without acknowledging that the Federal Government cleared the way and protected enterprise with military force. Large companies and corporations were actively involved in politics since the earliest parts of US history, attempting to create rules to gain and maintain benefits. They talk about the 1950's without acknowledging that the economic prosperity was only possible because workers had fought for living wages and Unionization was at its highest point. They also conveniently leave out that the benefits of that era were not seen equally by Black Americans and Latinos. That women had few civil liberties as well.
They talk about how traditional values are being destroyed by "liberals". No they are not. The idea that there is only one correct way of being is challenged by Progressive thought. The idea that Black Americans can marry White Americans, that women can marry women and men marry men does not destroy the idea that men marry women, or that people with similar backgrounds and beliefs will tend to gravitate. What conservatives are scared of loosing is their mandate to discriminate and control the discourse. Conservatism is about maintaining a White Male Christian hegemony and very little else. For that, they are naturally inclined to authoritarians who promise to maintain their social order.