It’s not your daddy’s conservatism…
The conservative part of me believes that the primacy (yes, even hallowed nature) of constitutional principles including, but not limited to, the first amendment trumps all. Other conservative principles I tend to elevate when trying to make a political calculation is local rule often brings better results than state or federal dictates and that property rights are important.
The Republican party, ostensively the ‘conservative’ one, abandoned conservative principals long ago. Protestations to the contrary, the tea party activists are not conservative either. The turning point was the election of 2000 and it has descended since into a authoritarian, nativist party of reactionaries (and those pandering to them). Case in point:
“In my own mind, I have the same political philosophy I’ve always had–basically libertarian but tempered by Burkean small-C conservatism. But I am no longer a member of the Republican Party and no longer consider myself part of the “conservative movement.” That’s not because I changed, but because I believe that they have. The Republican Party of today is not the party of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan that I was once a member of; it stands for nothing except the pursuit of power as an end in itself, with no concern whatsoever for what is right for the country. In a recent interview with The Economist magazine, I characterized the Republicans as the greedy, sociopathic party. I stand by that,” - Bruce Bartlett, economic adviser under Reagan and H.W. Bush.
Andrew Sullivan has been on a roll with this, a earlier quote from him speaking of gay rights:
What maddens me about the right – what has driven me and so many into outright opposition – has been their refusal to acknowledge the conservative aspects of this movement, and the balls it took to take on the gay far left and identity politics in favor of civil integration in the polarized plague years. They saw a minority within a minority battling for responsibility and equality – and all they really saw were homos. With this minority, the GOP did first what it now does to so many. Instead of seeing many of us as allies, they pushed all of us into the enemy camp. Just as they will not concede the critical distinction between Muslims and Jihadists, or often fail in their rhetoric to acknowledge the great contributions of legal immigrants as opposed to illegal ones, so they pushed another minority away.
Their fears trumped their hopes; their bigotry trumped their humanity. With Muslims, Hispanics and gays, the GOP is about lumping us all together and demonizing and blaming us collectively for sins we did not commit and failures for which we are not responsible.
This is not conservatism, properly understood. It is fear.
The recent, and growing, protests by conservatives and Republicans against Islam in general, and the Mosque near ground zero specifically, is a case in point. Instead of making a fair (and real) distinction between the >1 billion people of Islam and the insane murderers of Al Queda, as even Bush II was able to do, they’ve conflated the two to the extent they demonize all Muslims and anything Muslim.
Never mind the 1st amendment, you know the one that says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” among other things, an Islamic community center 2 blocks from ‘ground zero’ drives modern Republican leaders into a froth of anti-Muslim rhetoric, from denying the 1200 year old, 1+ billion strong religion the status of religion to Gingrich’s conflating terrorists with all muslims and calling it an insult, to Sarah Palin’s usual incoherent ramblings.
Never mind that the community, including the Jewish and Christian leaders in the area and the mayor, were in support of it. Never mind that hundreds of thousands of New York City peaceful, America-loving residents are Muslim, Tea party republicans would see national/federal concerns trump the desires of the locality.
Never mind that there is already a mosque in the area, or that they own this former “Burlington Coat Factory” site. The tea party Republicans, the right from Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin make a lie of their protestations of ‘small government’ and adherence to constitutional principles. In fact, in this issue the right, the Republicans and the Tea party activists have only shown themselves to be the an even more authoritarian, nativist party than that under Bush II.
Why liberals should love the Second Amendment
A well argued case for a strong liberal defense of the right to bear arms: Daily Kos: Why liberals should love the Second Amendment.
I have to say, I am a contradiction. I was an expert marksman in the Army, but I haven’t shot a weapon before or since or outside of duty. I don’t really care for guns much and I don’t own a gun, don’t plan to. Yet my sense of civil liberty (and all the reasons stated here) causes me to lean toward a strong defense of the right to own guns. As with all civil liberties there are instances of reasonable regulation (can’t shout fire in a theatre, can’t threaten the president with death, can’t discriminate in the public square in the name of religion), and there is with the 2nd amendment. I’ll agree with much of what is said here, we should be defending the 2nd amendment as vigorously as the others.
