Really starting to wonder if "conservatives" have lost all principles. First, "conservatives" backed Bush, father of Medicare Part D, NCLB..
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
Second, "conservatives" opposed Medicare cuts & campaigned against them. Third, we have "conservatives" making Dem arguments on tech policy.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
(note that by "traditional," I mean from the still very recent time when unions didn't want more immigration esp guest workers)...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
Fourth, we have "conservatives" using traditional union talking points increasingly on free trade & outright & commonly on immigration...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
Fifth, I have now seen multiple examples of "conservatives" talking about how by not getting the fed govt more involved in student loans...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
... the Democrats are supposedly "screwing over" students. Because nothing says "conservatism" like turning the govt into a massive bank...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
... involved in a bunch (more) unwise lending that inevitably helps to promote more inflation in education costs, rather than constrain it.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
Just a few examples. For a lot of people, "conservatism" actually means "economically liberal, culturally conservative and/or reactionary."
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
And the irony in all this is, no, it's not just the establishment GOP that dabbles in this. It's the populist, grassroots wing also.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
In fact, it may be even more the populist, grassroots wing than the establishment, overall. In any event, I find it depressing.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
I don't mind people who are legitimately 3-legged stool conservatives. I disagree w them on social policy & to an extent defense/forpol...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
...but at least they are legitimately conservative and not, you know, frauds. What I can't stand are people claiming to be "conservative"...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
...when they would, in fact, support a bunch of liberal policies if an R were advancing them or if Obama were advancing the opposite policy.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
Obama is obviously a big liberal, and rarely does he propose anything outside bog standard liberal policy. But Medicare cuts...
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
... and his (recent, occasional) embrace of free trade and more legal immigration are things where he's shown more market friendliness.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
And yet, you still get "conservatives" who are like "no Medicare cuts!" "no free trade!" and "stop (virtually all) legal immigration too!"
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
And then, because these "conservatives" want free things & big government too, they're like "turn the govt into a bank!" and "expand govt!"
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
You can criticize libertarians for having extreme minority viewpoints and espousing often impractical policy.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
But people who call themselves libertarians generally, you know, hold policy positions that are 90% legitimately libertarian.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
And we tend to be consistent in taking and holding those stances regardless of who's in office and what the derp du jour is.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
I was about to say the same about liberals, but actually, that's only vaguely true, and only if you exclude civil liberties & forpol.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 28, 2013
4 comments:
It's Liz Mair here. Your title and description suggests you didn't read my tweets. You might want to read the ones where I specifically mentioned the "establishment" and "populist grassroots," and then consider editing your post. Thanks.
Liz, thanks for the note.
I didn't say I agreed with your assertion regarding the grass-roots.
What: does Karl Rove have some following I don't know about?
The grass-roots is dominated by the Tea Party and has been battling the establishment tooth and nail (think Cruz vs. Dewhurst, for example).
If by "grass-roots", you mean the Ford-Nixon wing of the country club Republicans, then okay, maybe I see that.
But the Constitutional Conservatives, the massive hordes who follow Rush, Hannity and Levin, don't fit any of the faux-conservative attributes you've described.
Wait, a self-professed "social media expert" serial-tweets?
Please, GOP, keep these people, they're priceless!
I don't understand you libertarians. Liz, you and other libertarians seem to live a hypothetical dream world where the market is this deified object. The market doesn't do basic scientific research that's the core of all new technological discoveries, the market will not protect our drinking water or any other environmental resource for that matter, it will not protect our food supply, the market could never build good roads, sewers, bridges, water treatment plants, air traffic control, dams, and other basic, fundamental infrastructure for an advanced society. The market has never and would never ensure universal access to education, universal access to health, it does not protect equity, justice, and fairness. To live by market values is to reduce everything to a monetary transaction and a commodity. I don't think that would be a very good society to live in, and it surely wouldn't be prosperous.
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