Longtime conservative champion Mona Charen asks conservatives in this powerful short essay in The Bulwark: What Are We Conserving? She offers a compelling argument for conservatives to consider. Ive said on here many times that it Trump were running as a liberal with liberal policies I would be voting for whatever conservative opposed him. Some things are more important than tax policy or the role of government in our daily lives and preserving the nation's founding is one of them. Her main points followed by 4 random paragraphs: Conservative movement has become tainted with blatant bad faith and dishonesty Conserving ideas like small government or tax policy pale in comparison to preserving the founding of this nation Harris is moderate enough but more importantly bound by law What Are We Conserving? This debate illuminated an interesting question: What is conservatism conserving? As someone who spent decades as a conservative advocate, I am no longer as certain as I once was that conservatives have all the right answers. ------------------ None of us has the time or ability to become an expert in everything, so we use shortcuts. If person X agrees with me about anti-communism or phonics, I will be more likely to trust their views on Federal Reserve policy or some other topic that I know less about. We all outsource our judgment to some degree. But in the past nine years, too many people I formerly believed were honest and reliable have proven themselves capable of staggering dishonesty and bad faith. Someone said it’s like finding out that your spouse has been unfaithful or a friend has betrayed you. Suddenly you look back at the entire relationship with a jaundiced eye, interpreting everything differently. ------------------ I remain concerned about widespread abortion, but resent the bullying from pro-life zealots who have abandoned every other moral precept in the name of saving babies and presume to tell me that I’m a hypocrite if I don’t support a moronic demagogue. Is voting for a person who mouths the right words about abortion really the most effective way to live out your beliefs? (Especially if he then throws you overboard?) I helped found and continue to support a crisis pregnancy group that has stepped in to help women and their unborn children hundreds of times. Trump supporters who preen about their righteousness because of Dobbs should reflect that the number of abortions in America rose under Trump after declining for three decades. Having the right political opinions doesn’t equate with doing good in the world. Besides, the argument against abortion is moral. As such, it can’t be severed from other moral issues. Supporting protections for the unborn doesn’t absolve you of supporting cruelty against the born. ------------------- Compared with pulling the lever for Sanders, a vote for Kamala Harris is a treat—and she’s making it easier with every flip-flop. End fracking? No longer. Medicare for All? Nah. The tough prosecutor is back. Her acceptance speech was practically a bouquet for centrists and Never Trumpers. She invoked an “opportunity economy,” not redistribution. She pledged that as commander-in-chief, she would maintain the U.S. military as the “most lethal fighting force” in the world” and vowed to stand by Ukraine and NATO. She heaped scorn on Trump for “cozying up to tyrants and dictators” and promised to uphold the “rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.”
In God we trust. Marriage (actual). Nuclear family as cornerstone of society. Private property rights. Fiscal responsibility. National borders. Our history. Our national identity. Work ethic. Meritocracy. Individual freedom. ... Counter question: neo-socialist progressives: WHY are you trying to throw all thar away, and turn us into Cuba/Venezuela???
I was chuckling until I came to "national identity." On this I sort of agree that they are making an attempt at "conserving" something....although it really should say "ethnic identity."
The Republican Party is a fascist populist party now. Conservatism has been abandoned. The Dems are far more fiscally conservative these days.
Makes total sense: Marriage (actual): By supporting a 3 times married and divorced candidate who is in a sham marriage today? CHECK Nuclear family as cornerstone of society: Nothing more nuclear than Trump's tribe. CHECK Fiscal responsibility: By supporting the guy who increased the deficit every year and blew all records? CHECK National borders: By supporting a guy who shit canned the bi-partisan border deal? CHECK Our history: By supporting a guy who thinks Washington defended our airports at valley forge? CHECK Our national identity: By supporting the guy who supports our enemies? CHECK Work ethic/Meritocracy: By supporting a guy who was handed his wealth? CHECK Individual freedom: By taking away the right to marry, the right to control your body, the right to be free from religion? CHECK Totally makes sense.
“No policy preferences are worth risking the Constitution.” The article hits on my views as well and brings to mind a great passage from the 1937 senate judiciary committee refusing FDRs efforts to pack the court: For the protection of the people, for the preservation of the rights of the individual, for the maintenance of the liberties of minorities, for maintaining the checks and balances of our dual system, the three branches of the government were so constituted that the independent expression of honest difference of opinion could never be restrained in the people's servants and no one branch could overawe or subjugate the others. That is the American system. It is immeasurably more important, immeasurably more sacred to the people of America, indeed, to the people of all the world than the immediate adoption of any legislation however beneficial. New Deal Legislation | Pepperdine School of Public Policy
Marriage: trump married a woman had children, cheated on her, left her, married again had children, cheated and left her. Married a 3rd time to a woman 25 yrs younger, cheated on her when SHE was pregnant with a woman also 25 years younger and then cheated again with a porn star 33 years younger. So it’s a way of life for trump and the only thing that stopped him is his age. Fiscal responsibility: Under trump, we were running approx 1T /yr deficit This was an increase from Obama and before Covid. Any economic review of his platform for a 2nd term this will continue.
Our country from a shitty existence under Trump. We’re trying to do you all a favor despite you actively voting against your own interests.
Of course "Conservativism" in its present form represents a revolt against the re-envisioning of the Constitution in the New Deal era. At present they are living in fruits of their near total victory in that regard (they even turned the Democrats into Reaganites), and instead see everywhere a culture that largely hates what they stand for. It must be pretty maddening, hence their obsession with "woke" and culture wars.
Unfortunately this country will still be shitty until it is liberated from a lot more than who is president
Too bad as the shitty experience wagon is hooked to the Biden Administration which has doled out plenty of misery on the American people.
Same argument same complaints from both sides, rinse repeat. What are you voting for? Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden.... "If you just give our candidate another four years we will xyz" You see how your failed leaders are getting all of you to carry their water? When all they do is whats in the best interest of their party and pockets.
Personally, I am pretty confused by the present moment. Conservatives being scared of transgender people fits with my Gen X perspective, but I also sense an odd reversal where conservatives are the ones now railing against big corporations. I am in a book club with two staunch conservatives. One defended DeSantis’ attacks on Disney because the government is less dangerous than corporations, and the other for our next book just selected Manufacturing Consent.
There's someone you forgot to include that thinks that we'll be better off by voting for them. Although we all know that they will be better off but we won't
Kamala hasn't won the nomination yet but she's an unpopular vice president to an unpopular president. I only mentioned past president's. It's the same bs over and over while we get promises of change. Like I said... "if only my party gets another 4 years everything will be better...". Not much actually changes and half the country remains unhappy.
NB: GOP =/= Conservatives. The big GOP tent is just the closest thing to a home in thr political realm, for conservatives. E.g.--the neo-fascist progressive dominated Dummyrat party is utterly uninhabitable for conservatives.