Time magazine has a report probing what we have been discussing here regularly, at the risk of being hog tied and branded: Has conservatism lost touch with reality?
“”Conservatism is true.’ That’s what George Will told me when I interviewed him as an eager student many years ago,” writes Fareed Zakaria in Time. “His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will’s basic point was intelligent.
“Conservatism, he explained, was rooted in reality. Unlike the abstract theories of Marxism and socialism, it started not from an imagined society but from the world as it actually exists. From Aristotle to Edmund Burke, the greatest conservative thinkers have said that to change societies, one must understand them, accept them as they are and help them evolve.
“Watching this election campaign, one wonders what has happened to that tradition. Conservatives now espouse ideas drawn from abstract principles with little regard to the realities of America’s present or past. This is a tragedy, because conservatism has an important role to play in modernizing the U.S.
(See “The Heart of Conservative Values: Not Where It Used to Be?”)
“Consider the debates over the economy. The Republican prescription is to cut taxes and slash government spending — then things will bounce back. Now, I would like to see lower rates in the context of tax simplification and reform, but what is the evidence that tax cuts are the best path to revive the U.S. economy?
“Taxes — federal and state combined — as a percentage of GDP are at their lowest level since 1950. The U.S. is among the lowest taxed of the big industrial economies.
“So the case that America is grinding to a halt because of high taxation is not based on facts but is simply a theoretical assertion. The rich countries that are in the best shape right now, with strong growth and low unemployment, are ones like Germany and Denmark, neither one characterized by low taxes.
“We need conservative ideas to modernize the U.S. economy and reform American government. But what we have instead are policies that don’t reform but just cut and starve government — a strategy that pays little attention to history or best practices from around the world and is based instead on a theory. It turns out that conservatives are the woolly-headed professors after all.”
The rest of the article is here.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I love this line, “I know it works in practice,” the old saw goes, “but does it work in theory?”
This weekend on Global Public Square Fareed Zakaria compared the new conservatives to the old Marxists theorists; they talk about how things should be according to theory, without looking to real world experience and the pragmatism that comes from trying to implement the theory, to learn and adapt.
Kind of like arm chair quarterbacks, sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, thinking that in their prime they could have been Peyton Manning.
Its clear to me, Conservatism is the new Marxism!
Yes, that was an excellent segment on GPS. You can watch it here:
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/19/zakaria-conservatism-has-lost-touch-with-reality/
When you have a man worth 250 million dollars tell a roomful of unemployed people that he feels their pain because “he’s unemployed too” and his 4 strapping, military aged sons aren’t in the military because “they’re doing something MORE important for our country, like getting “dad” elected”. And you see a republican man like John McCain give into the most mean, nasty, deranged, unknowable, firebug theories in a public forum you know that a. The GOP are demonically possessed and/or b. The wheels have flown off the sanity and real-world bus and the whole load has been thrust into a circus train. It’s like seeing a car wreck up close–we keep on looking in the rearview to see if its as bad as we think it is…and it is…very, very bad crazy indeed. Kate
I think a comparison between the modern Republican party and the screwball opposition to the new deal is in order. Who is the modern day Huey Long, Francis Townsend, Fritz Kuhn, or Father Coughlin?
Tis become a very sick religion; God is Green (and we ain’t talking about saving trees).
The Godfather Green Giant.
Beck has often been compared to Father Coughlin…the republicans are beginning to be known as the know-nothing party again. Or Rome. I just think they’re becoming dangerously bent. I have talked to many republican moderate friends that are like , “um, no thank you”…Kate
I recently saw a remark that seemed a bit skewed as it should have read, When your “center” is the country’s “right” it’s easy to delude oneself about one being reasonable and moderate.
We have passed the practicality of ideological purity in any form.
Beyond that, I know the conservatism expressed by my forefathers would reject any of the proposed fraudulent actors such as Palin, Cain, Romney, et al – who selectively use the titles.
The labels have been hijacked – to our detriment, as a balance in debate is good.
And any hope that we would have a true representation by members of the GOP on that end of the spectrum was obliterated with party-line votes for the 2003 Medicare Mod. Act & the support of Bush’s reign in general.
Further, the slash & burn regression as proposed by the late to the (tea) party protesters is generally not conservative in principle, but just more libertarian arrogance.
Just look at the delusional local ‘right’ blogger muddle that results in Limbaughesque hypocrisy!
I read some trashy piece over on Juvinal’s blog insulting a regular commentator, Don Cooks, for pointing out the obvious. Todd Juvinal must have a perpetual neck ache as he watches many intelligent comments fly over his head.
It’s a matter of perspective. Russ Steele, in his Off the Top of My Head, discusses the fact that PG&E seems to be the main beneficiary of Smartmeters. Among “benefits” he lists, ‘
“The time of use pricing is very important to the accounting department, especially if you [the end user] are reducing your energy use, they need some way to recovery the “lost revenue” for the investors.
The investors are obviously much more important than the public. He also hides the amount of transmission involved, stating that it is less than 1 minute in 24 hours. He casually mentions the transmissions are 2 to 20 milliseconds per burst.
So all day long, at random intervals, the meter squirts out signals that can interfere with garage door openers, and alarm systems. No problemo! Sure…
BTW, if you make a Faraday cage for your meter, you will drive PG&E nuts, just as long as you have controlled access to your property, and they have to let you know when they are coming. Faraday cage? Fine wire mesh is used to make physics labs and the like radio wave proof so experiments can be done in radio silence. Until the Right comes up with ways to keep everyone employed, the rest of us must do what it takes to help those who still have jobs.
BTW, want a real person pronto when calling the ATT robot? Just say, “DISCONNECT PHONE” and you will be connected to a USA person speaking clear English in a hurry. From there you can progress much faster. I hate that robot and and his ‘I’ll just look that up” followed by the turkey gobble noise.
My goodness, you are the purveyor of eclectic mad skills Keachie. I used to play songs with the phone tones when put on hold…magic that. Always got a very attentive rep.:)
Kate
Too bad they aren’t running this guy…
Implication that Obama is complicit in establishing international Islamic caliphate
Speaking on the House floor on June 16, 2011, Rep. Gohmert stated: … I know the president made the mistake one day of saying he had visited all 57 states, and I’m well aware that there are not 57 states in this country. Although there are 57 members of OIC, the Islamic states in the world. Perhaps there was some confusion whether he had been to all the 57 Islamic states, as opposed to all 50 U.S. states. But, nonetheless, we have an obligation to the 50 American states, not the 57 Muslim, Islamic states. Our oath we took is in this body, in this House. And it’s to the people of America. And it’s not to the Muslim Brotherhood, who may very well take over Egypt and once they do, they are bent upon setting up a caliphate around the world, including the United States. And this administration will been [sic] complicit in helping people who wants [sic] to destroy our country. [16]
Rep. Gohmert looks and sounds like Elmer Fudd whilst on L.S.D…Kate
You all seem very upset about how conservatism is being trashed: My first instinct is to put that is the same category as those liberal commendators who are always telling “Republicans” what they have to do to “win.”
But let me throw out some food for thought: I think you all want to greatly reduce the military budget and make sure that the Social Security System and Medicare are on good solid footing to help those in need. I also know that most all of you are opposed to big corporations getting unfair tax breaks and using the power of government to their advantage.
Now I know that we mostly disagree on the social issues, but I would argue that everything I have outlined above would be the conservative position and that of most the tea party type folks that I have actually talked with. So forgive me if I am just a little confused!
John
Funny John, I don’t think anyone is upset that conservatism is being trashed, looks to me like pretty universal (present company excepted) agreement that conservatives deserve it. We are upset that we recognize that a robust mix of ideas and approaches is necessary to restore our national direction and conservatives seem to be taking a “my way or the highway” approach. I see this evidenced every day by your fellow right thinking bloggers.
Many of us have laid out (and worked to achieve) very specific long term local, state and national reform ideas that include a pretty conservative underlying philosophy, as you note above, only to have the door repeatedly slammed by “Tea People”.
Seems to me like the first step to achieving agreement would be for tea people and progressives to stop ostracizing their counterparts by implying that only they are the ‘real’ Americans. Oh, I am sorry I forgot, progressives never claimed to be the ‘real’ Americans because they recognize that we live in a diverse society.