Conservatives are the New Liberals

[daveman]

So, what is conservatism? I don't hear people that call themselves conservatives talk that way or think that way. I don't hear talk of building, I hear talk of tearing down. I don't hear talk of a helping hand, I hear talk of letting them fail. I don't hear talk of the public good, I hear talk about me and mine. I don't hear compassion for fellow citizens, I hear disdain. I never hear them talk about human capital, just mammon. These so called conservatives are ideologues that want to dismantle any shred of community and replace it with SELF interest.

That is not 'conservatism', that is called narcissism.

You don't hear it because you're too busy yapping.

If all I listened to was the prog echo chamber, I'd believe the same crap you do.

 

[Bfgrn]

Someone utterly unable to form his own opinions probably shouldn't be telling other people what they believe.

I argued with plenty of 'new conservatives' when Bush was in office. NONE of them were calling for less government. These are the very same 'less government' conservatives who gave us the 'patriot act and fatherland security.

I know you'll have trouble comprehending this simple fact, but not all conservatives agree with each other. We don't insist on groupthink and rigid lockstep. We're not progressives.

Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.
Will Rogers

REALLY? From the parrots of faux news, who invented think tanks (group-think) and contemplated a 'purity test'?

By Peter Wallsten

Conservative Republican Party activists want to withhold money from GOP candidates who stray too far from party orthodoxy.

Ten Republican National Committee members are distributing a plan to impose a purity test – calling for money to be withheld from anyone who disagrees with conservative principles on more than two of 10 core issues.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you talking about the same conservatives who severely punish ANYONE who doesn't parrot the party line??


David Frum and the Closing of the Conservative Mind
25 Mar 2010
Posted by Bruce Bartlett

As some readers of this blog may know, I was fired by a right wing think tank called the National Center for Policy Analysis in 2005 for writing a book critical of George W. Bush's policies, especially his support for Medicare Part D. In the years since, I have lost a great many friends and been shunned by conservative society in Washington, DC.

Now the same thing has happened to David Frum, who has been fired by the American Enterprise Institute. I don't know all the details, but I presume that his Waterloo post on Sunday condemning Republicans for failing to work with Democrats on healthcare reform was the final straw.

Since, he is no longer affiliated with AEI, I feel free to say publicly something he told me in private a few months ago. He asked if I had noticed any comments by AEI "scholars" on the subject of health care reform. I said no and he said that was because they had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.

It saddened me to hear this. I have always hoped that my experience was unique. But now I see that I was just the first to suffer from a closing of the conservative mind. Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn't already.

Sadly, there is no place for David and me to go. The donor community is only interested in financing organizations that parrot the party line, such as the one recently established by McCain economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin.

I will have more to say on this topic later. But I wanted to say that this is a black day for what passes for a conservative movement, scholarship, and the once-respected AEI.

 

[Plasmaball]

I know some of you are old enough to remember the liberalism of the 1960s. So you remember a time when:
Liberals believed the First Amendment was absolute and people should be able to say what they want regardless of how offensive it was.

Now conservatives hold that opinion.

Liberals believed in the goal of a race-blind society, where someone would be judged on his character rather than skin color.

Now conservaitves believe that.

Liberals believed in individual freedom to decide important issues without government interference.

Now conservatives believe that.

Liberals believed in an America that was engaged in the world and a force for good, helping those oppressed by communist dictatorships find their freedom.

Now conservatives believe that.

Liberals believed in the press as the Fourth Estate, whose role was to inform the people and act as a check on a government.

Now conservatives believe that.

Liberals believed in a genderless society where women were hired on the basis of their qualifications alone.

Now conservatives believe that.

Liberals believed in the ideal of free and fair elections that were by the rules and above board beyond reproach.

Now conservatives believe that.

For most of the old time liberals, they didnt leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left them.

Hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

No

 

[daveman]

I argued with plenty of 'new conservatives' when Bush was in office. NONE of them were calling for less government. These are the very same 'less government' conservatives who gave us the 'patriot act and fatherland security.

I know you'll have trouble comprehending this simple fact, but not all conservatives agree with each other. We don't insist on groupthink and rigid lockstep. We're not progressives.

Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.
Will Rogers

REALLY? From the parrots of faux news...

I don't watch Fox News. But of course, the progressive echo chamber tells you I do, so you unquestioningly believe it.

...who invented think tanks (group-think)...

History says otherwise.

The oldest American think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1910 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie charged trustees to use the fund to "hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization."[2] The Brookings Institution was founded shortly thereafter in 1916 by Robert S. Brookings and was conceived as a bipartisan "research center modeled on academic institutions and focused on addressing the questions of the federal government." [3]​

Neither of those are conservative.

...and contemplated a 'purity test'?

Contemplated -- not enacted.

However, Democrats seemed to like the idea:

A Purity Test for Democrats

Oh, and ask Democrat Joe Liebermann what he thinks about it.

Oh, wait -- that's right; you guys drove him out of the Party for being a Thoughtcriminal.

More Thoughtcriminals:

Group helped force out anti-abortion Democratic incumbents

You're really not very good at this.

 

[The Rabbi]

You really are an idiot. If I said black, you would argue white.

It is not a strawman, I used the classic definition of conservatism:

conservatism

: belief in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society

: dislike of change or new ideas in a particular area

noun
1. the disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change.

World English Dictionary

2. a political philosophy advocating the preservation of the best of the established order in society and opposing radical change

It was a complete strawman. Conservatives vary so there is no one definition. Just for starters. Secondly, today's conservatives are yesterday's liberals. Which was the point of this thread, in case you missed something else.

I just gave you the classic definition from 3 different dictionaries. The truth of the matter is Reagan was no conservative. He trashed everything our ancestors built. He was a radical regressive who tried to bring back the Gilded Age.

“Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. Reagan was an ideological inflection point, ending a 50-year liberal ascendancy and beginning a 30-year conservative ascendancy."
Charles Krauthammer

Reagan wasn't a conservative because he wanted to go back to the Gilded Age. Conservatives believe in established and traditional practices.

I think you just contradicted yourself there, chief.

 

[paulitician]

Hopefully one day people will come to understand that classic Liberalism is not the same as the current Communist/Progressivism. Classic Liberals would stand with the People in fighting this Police State tyranny. Don't confuse that with today's Communist/Progressive Democrats. There is a big difference.

 

[The Rabbi]

The far right has never believed and never will in a race blind society.

If they did, they would have no reason to exist.

Look at Pete wetting his bed nightly because America is changing forever, renouncing the America of the 1950s.

Oh, DO shut up, you progressive tool.

I think he did. Or was.

 

[Bfgrn]

I know you'll have trouble comprehending this simple fact, but not all conservatives agree with each other. We don't insist on groupthink and rigid lockstep. We're not progressives.

Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.
Will Rogers

REALLY? From the parrots of faux news...

I don't watch Fox News. But of course, the progressive echo chamber tells you I do, so you unquestioningly believe it.

...who invented think tanks (group-think)...

History says otherwise.

The oldest American think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1910 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie charged trustees to use the fund to "hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization."[2] The Brookings Institution was founded shortly thereafter in 1916 by Robert S. Brookings and was conceived as a bipartisan "research center modeled on academic institutions and focused on addressing the questions of the federal government." [3]​

Neither of those are conservative.

...and contemplated a 'purity test'?

Contemplated -- not enacted.

However, Democrats seemed to like the idea:

A Purity Test for Democrats

Oh, and ask Democrat Joe Liebermann what he thinks about it.

Oh, wait -- that's right; you guys drove him out of the Party for being a Thoughtcriminal.

More Thoughtcriminals:

Group helped force out anti-abortion Democratic incumbents

You're really not very good at this.

Beware of the half-truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.
Seymour Essrog

Yea, I provide a purity test contemplated by the Republican National Committee, you provide an op-ed from a lone blogger from Daily Kos. IRONY, if I BROUGHT something from Daily Kos, you right wing turds would be all over me.

BTW, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is not formally associated with any political party.

There are a lot more conservative think tanks, and they receive a LOT more funding than liberal think tanks.

IRONY AGAIN, the phony IRS 'scandal' you right wing parrots kept squawking about.

IRS does publish the names of groups that have received special scrutiny and been approved for tax-exempt status. They recently released a list of 176 organizations that have been approved since 2010:

• 122 conservative
• 48 liberal/nonconservative
• 6 unknown

Hey LET'S ask Joe Lieberman. He gives a speech at the Republican convention endorsing the GOP candidate for president, launches a website "Citizens for McCain" to recruit Democratic support for John McCain's candidacy.

And HOW did those evil Democrats punish him? By giving him the Chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The REAL IRONY, even the right wing's puppet master, Frank Luntz, who Republicans parroted during the health care debate ADMITS liberals don't have any 'wordsmiths'

Frank Luntz: The 11 Words for 2011

"These are 11 phrases that will be shaping the public discourse over the coming year. You won't find a similar list from a liberal wordsmith -- there aren't any."

 

[tinydancer]

Progressives aren't liberal. They are government stooges. Abbie and Jerry are rolling in their graves at the thought of these assholes actually have the balls to think of themselves as liberal.

 

[tinydancer]

Hopefully one day people will come to understand that classic Liberalism is not the same as the current Communist/Progressivism. Classic Liberals would stand with the People in fighting this Police State tyranny. Don't confuse that with today's Communist/Progressive Democrats. There is a big difference.

Exactly. I was in a Lakhota thread where her and others like Nutz were actually wishing for Bundy and Bundy's supporters to be blown away because those "insurgents and terrorists" and yes those words were used to describe the Bundy supporters had the balls to challenge the progressives government officials.

Hell's bells. If this had happened in the 60's there would have been demonstrations across the nation in support of Bundy and in condemnation of the BLM's over the top militarized actions.

These self professed progressives are just government stooges. Big government with big rules. They wallow in it.

 

[Bfgrn]

Hopefully one day people will come to understand that classic Liberalism is not the same as the current Communist/Progressivism. Classic Liberals would stand with the People in fighting this Police State tyranny. Don't confuse that with today's Communist/Progressive Democrats. There is a big difference.

Exactly. I was in a Lakhota thread where her and others like Nutz were actually wishing for Bundy and Bundy's supporters to be blown away because those "insurgents and terrorists" and yes those words were used to describe the Bundy supporters had the balls to challenge the progressives government officials.

Hell's bells. If this had happened in the 60's there would have been demonstrations across the nation in support of Bundy and in condemnation of the BLM's over the top militarized actions.

These self professed progressives are just government stooges. Big government with big rules. They wallow in it.

Coming from BIG government stooges who gave us the patriot act, fatherland security, Abu Ghraib and the turds who cheered human torture and Iraqi citizens being blown to shreds by helicopter mounted cannons.

and who worshiped the ULTIMATE stooge in chief...

"I always believed as a speechwriter that if you could persuade the president to commit himself to certain words, he would feel himself committed to the ideas that underlay those words. And the big shock to me has been that although the president said the words, he just did not absorb the ideas. And that is the root of, maybe, everything."
David Frum - Speechwriter for George W. Bush