Day: August 25, 2023

What Is A Conservative?

College of Political Knowledge

Election series

Since we are entering into the 2024 election cycle and so many people are floundering around politically I thought it would be a good idea for people to understand terms that they are throwing about….words like ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’….and that is where I want to pick this up.

Let’s start with those aggravating conservatives….

Let’s dispense with one popular answer to this question, asserted by many American conservatives and liberals alike: that proper conservatives are devoted to “small government” or engaged in protecting “individual liberties” from a big government. These are slogans of today’s Republican Party, but there’s no good argument to believe that the party behind the War on Drugs (Richard Nixon, and later Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and every Republican since), the PATRIOT Act (George W. Bush), the first and second Iraq War (Both Bushes), massive police funding, eliminating the right to abortion, Don’t Say Gay laws, and school book bans is, in any way that makes sense, devoted to “limiting” the power of the government. To make sense of the word “conservative” we have to dig deeper than headlines and slogans.

Like a lot of our political vocabulary — see also: “left” and “right,” — the political meaning of “conservative” came as a result of the French Revolution of 1789, when democratic radicals deposed the monarchy and the aristocracy. Soon after, in 1818, defenders of the French Old Regime founded a pro-monarchy journal, Le Conservateur, that first used “conservative” in the modern, political sense. The magazine listed what it stood for in its first issue: “religion, the King, liberty…and upstanding people.” These were the things under threat from the new society formed after the Revolution.

Modern-day conservatives don’t necessarily want to protect or “conserve” the same things as their 19th-century brethren. (Not too many Americans will admit to being monarchists.) But they do share a fundamental dilemma with their French forebears: Defining yourself in terms of an old order and its enemies makes it difficult to explain the sort of future you want to build. On one hand, conservatives defend tradition and duty; on the other, the definitions of these things shift with every generation. And what good is a tradition if it changes all the time?

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-a-conservative

In short a conservative is a hypocritical slug that uses misinformation and lies to function in government….they champion small government but expand it whenever in power….they spend like a drunken sailor and go to battle over spending…..

Not to worry I will be critiquing ‘liberals’ soon (hint they are not what they seem)….no more Left than your right foot.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another BRIC In The Wall

In my mind I can hear Pink Floyd but that is not what this post is about…..

BRICs stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and later South Africa, a group that was formed because some nations were tired of the US trying to control the economies of the world.

In the recent summit in South Africa the world is about to change….

The BRICS international summit in South Africa this week is drawing interest from countries that are sick and tired of the Western-led blocs.

More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in the BRICS bloc as an alternative to Western-led international groupings, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing South African officials.

South Africa is hosting the 15th summit of the BRICS bloc in Johannesburg from Tuesday to Thursday. The group is considering adding members to its alliance at the meeting.

Of those who have expressed interest, nearly two dozen have formally asked to join the group that represents a quarter of the world’s GDP, per Reuters.

South Africa hasn’t published a list of new candidates to the bloc, but some of the interested countries include heavily sanctioned Iran and Venezuela, Southeast Asia’s largest economy of Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

https://www.businessinsider.com/brics-summit-countries-interested-brazil-russia-india-china-south-africa-2023-8

New members have been announced….

Iran and Saudi Arabia are among six countries that will join the BRICS bloc of developing economies as new members from 2024, South Africa’s president said Thursday. United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia are also set to join the bloc that is currently made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country presently chairs BRICS, made the announcement at a bloc summit in Johannesburg, the AP reports. The five current members agreed at this week’s summit to expand the bloc after two days of talks, although Ramaphosa said the idea of expansion had been worked on for over a year.

This is the second time that BRICS has decided to expand. The bloc was formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa was added in 2010. The BRICS bloc currently represents around 40% of the world’s population and contributes more than a quarter of global GDP. Three of the group’s other leaders, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are attending the summit and were present alongside Ramaphosa for the announcement. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not travel to the summit after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March for the abduction of children from Ukraine.

The inclusion of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates together in the same economic or political organization would have been unthinkable in recent years amid escalating tensions following the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal and a series of attacks attributed to the country since. But the UAE was first to reengage diplomatically with Iran as it emerged from the coronavirus pandemic and following missile attacks on Abu Dhabi claimed by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen. In March, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced they reached a separate détente with Chinese mediation

International economics is about to get a lot more interesting.

The G7 and the G20 will be floundering to explain why countries are not so thrilled with the US control of world economies.

This bears attention for it could effect trade and your prices.

Any thoughts on this situation?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”