MUST READ: Why conservatives are always WRONG

[mwb970]

This is by far the best, most thorough analysis I have ever seen of the galling fact that conservative ideas and policies are, without exception, WRONG. Not just factually wrong (though they are that), but morally wrong. The author delves deeply into the conservative psyche (ick) and exposes the underlying beliefs that cause the right wing to be on the wrong side of history at every turn.

Why conservatives are always WRONG
by Jefferson Smith

Suppose you had a friend you had known for many years, one who was very opinionated, who always seemed absolutely certain about everything, and yet who was always turning out to be wrong. He got you to buy stock in Enron and swore it would just keep on rising. He bet on the Yankees to sweep the Red Sox in ’04. He said mobile phones were just a fad, and before long people would give them up and go back to sending telegrams. Would you trust this person’s powers of analysis? Would you continue putting any faith in his predictions?

“Conservatives,” or those who call themselves this nowadays, have an equally good and much longer record of faulty analysis and wrong prediction. In order to exist as a viable movement, they depend on everyone forgetting that they’re basically always wrong.

Unfortunately, progressives and liberals have obliged. They seem to have forgotten who they’re actually dealing with. I’m not the first to point out that conservatives are always wrong – on any longer view, it’s hard to miss – but after years of observing the dispirited moderate left and the hapless, helpless leadership of the Democratic Party, I thought it was about time for a few reminders. If we step back from the issues that preoccupy us at the moment, it’s easier both to see that conservatism has consistently been failing and to examine the deeper reasons why. There are flaws in conservative positions that eventually cause them to collapse, and those same flaws are at work today. It’s true that one side in America’s great political debates is playing a very weak hand. Fortunately, that side isn’t ours.

If they recognized this, if they remembered how reliably the conservative cause has come to grief in the past, I think my fellow progressives would be in much better spirits. I hope the analysis I’m offering here will not only brighten their mood, but suggest some specific arguments and approaches they might find useful once they figure out that they’re already winning – and have been for a very long time.

Much, much more at the link, and well worth reading!

:)

[iamjoy]

1. Seems Like A Good Read (eom)

[tonyafd]

3. Pat Buchanan is a Conservative

If you go back a thousand years, of course things change as
knowledge increases.

I would like to mention a Conservative who seems to be calling
it right. Pat Buchanan seems to have it right on
globalization. He is not on board. He is wary of the erosion
of our manufacturing base. 

Like Chomsky, Buchanan calls it the way he sees it, and has
branded Israel a sinner just like the rest of us are. In
America you just don't do that. So, when someone is not on
board with sending millions of jobs abroad he has to be
neutralized. When you can't brand a person a Communist what we
do nowadays, brand them an extremist and an anti-semite. 

While some of his ideas are passe, some are worth careful
consideration.  

[LiberalFighter]

5. Anyone can have good ideas part of the time

[LeftishBrit]

8. No, he is a fascist

He is against the war, which is a good thing; but he is a racist and xenophobe, whose favourite game is blaming immigrants for everything. I first came across him when he wrote an article defending LePen (then running for president of France) in 2002.

The enemy of my enemy os not always my friend. He's against globalization because it involves interaction with eeeeevil foreigners, not due to any concern about the exploitation of poor people.

I have formed my own opinions by reading Buchanan's own writings; not anyone 'branding' him as anything. I am sure that Chomsky would have a FIT at being mentioned in the same breath as him!

[Loudmxr]

10. Let me say a good thing about Uncle Pat. He tells the truth.

Now you have to get him in a situation where he is not thinking. When he is not thinking he tells the truth. And that perspective on what the right thinks is actual fact can be rather disturbing.

By truth I mean he is not lying and is telling you exactly what he thinks are the facts to his point of view. Like Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson did after 9-11 blaming the gays and abortionists. They were telling the truth. They really believed that shit. You have to think to lie. If you are not thinking... you are telling the truth.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Not sure that's really a good thing in such cases...

I think that fanatics who believe their own insanity ('gays and abortionists caused 9-11', etc.) often do more harm than all but the cleverest liars. Both because others are more likely to believe them, and because they are more likely to be ruthless to the death in pressing their cause, where the less honest person may give it up if they think it will no longer be an advantage to *them*.

[Enthusiast]

2. I love that quote!

Conservativess,” or those who call themselves this nowadays, have an equally good and much longer record of faulty analysis and wrong prediction. In order to exist as a viable movement, they depend on everyone forgetting that they’re basically always wrong.


This is the crux!

[caraher]

4. Actually, the key is that being wrong is irrelevant to them

What defines the Palin wing as a "movement" is their choice of enemies. Being right about anything is utterly irrelevant to them, because it's all about belonging and hating the "right" people. To a RW teabagger policy positions are useful only to the extent that they identify you as "one of them" - they function only as purity tests, not things that can be right or wrong in light of the facts and desired outcomes.

In fact, the further a RW meme is divorced from reality, the better it functions. Their purpose is to sift the in-group from the wavering out-group. Proudly declaring your eagerness to be lied to is a badge of honor. And so we get the manufactured fantasy world of the teabaggers and swiftboaters, crazy tales of death panels and Kenyan births, none of which stand even the most casual scrutiny. And this is by design. They are built specifically for people who WANT to be lied to.

[Cassandra]

6. The Authoritarians is always a good read.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

[Demeter]

7. Conservatives Are Wrong Because They Don't Do Change if It Involves Sacrifice on Their Part

as a result, they have maximium devastation, instead of minimal sacrifices.

If you cannot change, you cannot expect any improvement. Going back to the failed past is not a solution for the burgeoning present, no matter how rosy the scenario.

There are people who make change. They are called innovators, heroes, winners. There are those who fight change on the most ridiculous of grounds. They are uniformly called LOSERS.

[unblock]

9. for them, it's not about being "correct". it's about being easy and paying well.

conservatives are in it for the money. most of the leaders, at least, know that their arguments are complete crap. the purpose of the argument isn't to be correct, it's to provide a flimsy fig leaf for otherwise naked greed. they only need it to SOUND plausible or to have just a tiny grain of truth in it.

republican corporate types just want a tax break for their company or their dividends and capital gains and income.
republican politicians just want to solicit bribes campaign contributions or post-retirement deals.
republican rank-and-file (most of them) just want their own taxes cut, or at least taxes cut for where they see themselves once they win the lottery.
repubkican rank-and-file (the rest of them) only know or care to judge correctness on the basis of who talks with the greatest self-confidence. they are perennially bamboozled by republican bluster.

[santamargarita]

12. They create their own reality

:crazy:

[Selfevident]

13. Always Wrong

Its not the conservatives or the liberals. We no longer have a 2 party system. Can you not see this? One of Bill Clinton's mentors Dr. Carroll Quigly said it best in the book Tragedy and Hope that the idea that the two political parties should have any major difference is for academia to discuss. In reality they should be nearly the same. This way when the people get tired of one side they can vote them out and the others in without there being any significant change in policy. These men in our highest offices are politicians not statesmen. Remember that. We had one choice on each side of the election this time D.Kucinich or R Paul. Yes there ideology is different but they are honest and have this counties future in mind they just disagree on how to do it.

[RainDog]

14. neoliberals are also conservatives

I guess that means they are also part of the "always wrong" crowd.