Modern Conservativism: "Just FORGET all that 'past' stuff..."

[JHB]

A good one in Avedon Carol's blog The Sideshow, prompted by Ducker Carlson's turnabout on the war:

"...even Tucker Carlson, the other side's enthusiastic representative on Crossfire, has joined the chorus:
"I think it's a total nightmare and disaster, and I'm ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it," he said. "It's something I'll never do again. Never. I got convinced by a friend of mine who's smarter than I am, and I shouldn't have done that. No. I want things to work out, but I'm enraged by it, actually."
You know, a lot of people seemed "smarter" precisely because they were promoting a theory that was blatantly counterintuitive, that went against everything we'd all learned throughout our lives: That war doesn't usually make things better and can generally be expected to make things worse. Plus, you know, it kills people. (And didn't these people ever read Catch-22? Didn't they see that it was a whole lot more than jokes?) It's that whole "thinking outside the box" thing that's really no more than reinventing the wheel by people who simply can't figure out that wheels actually work. And there are always going to be tyros coming along who think we're all too old and diminished to take their daring path, because they don't get it that we don't go "outside the box" because we already know what's out there. (Hey, we were young and foolish once, too, you know.)

This is really how the whole "conservative" Thing works - simply dismiss what is known, write off all of the lessons of the past, dump all empirical evidence, run right back to the stone age and pretend that thousands of years worth of civilization that brought us out of the caves and into the light was just a silly liberal mistake.

That's right:

It's a mistake to try to bring prosperity to as much of the populace as possible.
It's a mistake to coordinate the infrastructure of a city, a society, out of the community treasury, so that the rich and poor alike are protected from plague and misery that affects everyone.
It's a mistake to invest in the future of your community, your country, as a whole.
It's a mistake to bind the powerful to the rule of law and thus prevent successful villains from immiserating the populace.
It's a mistake to try to educate, feed, and house the children.
It's a mistake not to leave your old people on ice floes.
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http://www.sideshow.idps.co.uk/smay04.htm#131730

[Lindsay]

1. Oh, that is brilliant!

Thanks so much for posting it. I don't always remember to check that blog, and that post is a must-read.

[On the Road]

2. Me, Too --

Sideshow is new to me -- I bookmarked it.

[zeemike]

3. Well said’

But my view is somewhat more insidious.
I point to Orwell and his statement” He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past controls the future.”
It is not just an accident that many have been convinced to believe a revision of history but a conscious act by those that control the present to make us believe it.
Truth is at a great disadvantage. It has no media conglomerate at it’s disposal to disseminate it. But a lie will travel around the world before truth can get its pants on. (As Sam Clemens said)

[JHB]

4. I agree...

...and having corresponded with Avedon, I think she'd agree with you there, too.

[LittleApple81]

5. Sadly, I must agree too. I am a C-Span junkie and it is more

apparent than ever when you see what happens in Congress and what gets reported...basically nothing a Democrat says gets past the filter unless it can be used to denigrate the speaker and the party.