Why don't conservatives actually conserve anything?

[Joe the Liberal]

I don't get it, why call themselves "conservatives" if all they do is waste, spend and destroy? That's like being a firefighter but not actually fighting fires but rather starting them.

Seems kind of hypocritical to have the title of "conservatives" when the last thing they ever do is conserve, they are a walking oxymoron. I just don't get it, why don't "conservatives" actually conserve anything? Any thoughts?

[Johonny]

1. I believe they conserve the wealth for the top 1 %

which is odd sense most of them aren't close to being in the top 1 %.

[NewJeffCT]

6. A few years back, there was a survey

that said 18% of Americans thought they were in the top 1% of income earners.

Much of that is the Bush base.

[phantom power]

2. I don't think they're that into self reflection.

Issues like "what am I protesting?" or "why?" or questions about what words mean, like "socialist" or "communist" or "conservative".

Not really their bag.

[and-justice-for-all]

9. I do not think they even know what their protesting about...

it is very sad to see people protesting against something that we all would benefit from. Just having the a National Health Care System would save thousands of jobs, mainly because employers would not have to pay for their employees health care anymore.

[lpbk2713]

3. They are walking contradictions. Always have been.

Always will be. I think it's actually required in their by-laws. :eyes:

[Turbineguy]

4. As is your wont

you've put your finger on it. The fatal flaw.

[and-justice-for-all]

5. They conserve, per-Roosevelt ideals that is...nt

[Richard Steele]

7. Because they are morans who live in a FANTASY-based reality.

Very little they do will ever make sense
to those of us who live in the real world.

[KansDem]

8. They are "conservatives" because they want to "conserve" their station in life...

They "conserve" their wealth, power, stature, property, etc. You might say they "conserve" liberally...

[EFerrari]

10. Because they have no idea what that term once meant.

They use it as a cover for their group of hatreds and that's it. It's just code for "white people who hate like me" now.

[ejpoeta]

11. they conserve their brain power for later.

[Ikonoklast]

12. As noted above, cognitive dissonance.

Researchers help define what makes a political conservative
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/22_politics.shtml

Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

Fear and aggression

Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity

Uncertainty avoidance

Need for cognitive closure

Terror management
"From our perspective, these psychological factors are capable of contributing to the adoption of conservative ideological contents, either independently or in combination," the researchers wrote in an article, "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," recently published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin.

Also, in John Dean's book "Conservatives Without Conscience" he has a well written and researched chapter on this exact subject.

[Joe the Liberal]

14. That certainly does make sense...........

although he left out "lack of intelligence" as a factor linked to conservatism lol.

[C_U_L8R]

13. Compassionate conservatism

they conserve the compassion and turn up the greed and fear

[The_Commonist]

15. I've been wondering about that...

...for most of the past 28 years.

Bunch of wastrels, if you ask me.

[KT2000]

16. They conserve money

they are the cheapest people on this planet with their own money.

[Skittles]

17. they conserve plenty of things

humanity, empathy, logic, etc.