Thursday, July 13, 2006

It's the Conservatism Stupid - Part 2

Conservatism is the ideology of the past—a past we don’t want to return to.


"Liberals need to embrace the culture war, because we’re winning. The story of American history is that of conservative ideas and prejudices falling away as our society grows more progressive and thus more true to our nation’s founding ideals. Conservatives supported slavery, conservatives opposed women’s suffrage, conservatives supported Jim Crow, conservatives opposed the 40-hour work week and the abolishment of child labor, and conservatives supported McCarthyism. In short, all the major advancements of freedom and justice in our history were pushed by liberals and opposed by conservatives, no matter the party they inhabited at the time.

Conservatism is Bill Bennett lecturing you about self-denial, then rushing off to feed his slot habit at the casino. It’s James Dobson telling you that children need regular beatings to stay in line. It’s a superannuated nun rapping you on the knuckles so you won’t think about your dirty parts. It’s Jerry Falwell watching “Teletubbies” frame by frame to see if Tinky Winky is trying to turn him gay. Conservatism is everyone you never wanted to grow up to be."

[From Paul Waldman. For the entire article go here.]

1 comment:

Oilfieldguy said...

Liberals are winning the culture war? Well, I'm a liberal, and until I see evidence manifested by winning elections, I'll refrain from up-is-downism. I watch the current round of teevee ads by racists like Bode proudly announcing her intention of illeminating "anchor baby" citizenship for "illegal immigrants", and wonder if there is a market here for that. Of course there is. What I don't see is someone saying we don't have an illegal immigrant problem, but we do have an illeagal employer problem. It's just so much easier to beat up on the powerless and terrified, and the fact that they are brown, sorta like 9/11 and the Iraqistan terrists.

Recast the dialogue into liberals want more freedom; not less. Liberals want more rights; not less. Liberals want more privacy; not less. Liberals want open Governance; not closed secret and secretive.