Addressing Conservatism

How many times lately have you heard the phrase, “the conservative choice?” Unless you have trained yourself to totally tune out political ads the, answer is “LOTS.” Though we all carry some admirable conservative traits, we now not only have to train ourselves to watch for Russian fake news on Facebook, we also need to seriously examine the premise that "conservatives" make better legislators.

 

We have had an entire generation of very wealthy “conservative” individuals and groups working to make "conservatism" the unquestioned king of the political hill. At the same time they have worked equally hard to demonize the word “liberal.”

 

So what is conservatism? If you look at the example of the leader of the party in power right now in Washington D.C., things get uncomfortable really fast. Non-partsan fact finding organizations have trouble keeping up with documenting the huge number of deceitful and and untruthful statements coming from the White House. And the name calling has been normalized by “conservatives” for the current president. Why? Many “conservatives” have given their consent by rationalizing that their policy agenda is being fulfilled. Never mind that their ends justify the means rationale anchors "conservatism" in a morally bankrupt idea that is toxic to democracy. Never mind any consideration for consequences.

 

Think about the examples of climate change, healthcare, and the national debt. Denial and privatization are dressed up in "conservative " clothing that treats empirical evidence produced by 99% of climate scientists like the plague. Privatization in healthcare has made the U.S. the most expensive developed country in the world for healthcare. And what about the tax cuts and budget passed by "conservatives?" In spite of the unfounded notion that increased revenues will magically appear to take care of the massive projected budget deficits, recent reports by the corporations that received the biggest tax cuts show that stock buybacks and other wealthy perks. The real consequences are that "conservatives" have sacrificed our children to a world with harsher choices than we have ever had when it comes to quality of life.