Politix Today

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You know, I have been thinking.  I don't think it's easy to divide Americans into liberals and conservative anymore.  This is because the list of articles of faith of the Tea Party is so (1) extensive, and (2) so extreme, that many conservatives probably have trouble subscribing to them.  On the other hand, that List is inducing increasingly more Articles of Faith on the liberal side, some of which are (2) almost as extreme as those on the other side, especially pertaining to how evil all conservatives are.

In the short term, I suppose, we have to deal with one thing at a time, as it becomes necessary to foil various ploys that the sinister strategists among the conservatives dream up.  Conservatives are not, however, all of the same stripe.  There are several kinds of conservatives, and we need to be aware of this.

Conservative politicians are some of those who arouse the most suspicion in me.  They often spout lies and disinformation which must be countered strongly with accurate information and analysis, and if absolutely necessary, counter-propaganda, though that seems a rather extreme thing to do.  But other conservative politicians are probably very unhappy with how things are developing; it has been my theory for a long time that there is a sector within the ranks of the conservatives that is deeply embarrassed by the lies of some of the conservative politicians.  If conservatives plan to be in control for any length of time, they must see that they have to put forward more substantial ideas than simply manufactured lies, and pandering to business interests.

Conservative businessmen are of two kinds.  Some of them can only see that their resources are being eroded by high taxes.  (But we know that most of the taxes go towards unbelievably high salaries for congressmen, and towards the Pentagon and its dreams of glory.)  Others only see that the Government is mishandling its financial resources (which, of course, came from taxes, in the first place).  Businessmen of all kinds are deeply offended by others mishandling money.

A very important sector among conservatives, especially reasonable ones who are strongly religious, is that they feel that liberals seem to be getting Government to do the charity on their behalf, whereas these conservatives would rather have control over their own charitable endeavors.  This is a completely reasonable attitude, except that it seems to us liberals that the government —when it functions as it ought— has the potential to be far more organized and effective than private organizations.  Let's not forget that private organizations have been on record as squandering a far larger percentage of their resources on remuneration of high-level officers than we have been accustomed to expecting.  But of course, conservative businessmen are perfectly ok with big salaries for the high-ups in any organization (except a liberal President, of course).

So that is quite a major division of opinion between liberals and conservatives: conservatives want to do their own "charity" (which of course we liberals consider rights of the poor), whereas we liberals would like it to be organized in such a way that people of small means can get the assistance in a systematic way.  Of course there is corruption, which we liberals think is inevitable, whereas conservatives cannot tolerate it.

Lots of individual conservatives are idealists, and innocent, and tend to regard clever-dick liberals as sly cynics.  A lot of liberals are clever people.  But generally speaking, very few liberals are as willing to manipulate the truth as the conservative media.  Conservative media and conservative money together have taken the responsibility to be the arm of the Conservative movement that spreads deceit and out-and-out lies, all in —to them— a good cause.

Conservatives have been, some of them, thinking very long term, over the past several decades.  How can they get in power, and stay in power, so that they make taxes lower, the military stronger, take away government services, erode the strength of Music and the Arts, NPR, PBS, and all things that really represented the high aspirations of those classy conservatives of a bygone era, to which the conservative billionaires of today can never aspire?  Culture, for this latest crop of moneybags, is a hot dog in the reserved seats of a ball park.  I suppose someone has to support baseball.  But I just have no respect for the uneducated rich, who are willing to sacrifice public support for the arts and public education in order to lower taxes, and further stretch out the difference between the standard of living of the very affluent and the very poor.  All this gerrymandering, all this maneuvering to get conservatives into the Supreme Court, all this frantic legislation to give political power to corporations; for what?  To systemically ensure that liberals are kept out of government.

Liberals, too, are guilty of some things.  Some of this rhetoric about enslaving animals for food must be reserved for small, special-interest groups.

[To be continued]