Is The “Libertarian Moment” Gone?

About 10 years ago with the election of Rand Paul conservatives were celebrating for they saw a Libertarian mindset taking hold in society….and so it was for a few years and then the election of 2016 and that of Donald trump has crapped on any Libertarian forward movement to a halt.

Are true conservative(Libertarian) policies dead in the water?

Senator Rand Paul is a man out of time. It was only a few years ago that the editors of Reason magazine held him up as the personification of what they imagined to be a “libertarian moment,” a term that enjoyed some momentary cachet in the pages of The New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico (where I offered a skeptical assessment), and elsewhere. But rather than embodying the future of the Republican Party, Paul embodies its past, the postwar conservative era when Ronald Reagan could proclaim that “the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism,” when National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. could publish a conspectus of his later work under the subtitle “Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist,” and young blue-blazered Republicans of the Alex P. Keaton variety wore out their copies of Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/defused/556934/

Will conservatism return or is it dead?

Can “True” Conservatives Survive?

In this eras of Trump real conservatives, if you listen to Bannon they are RINOs, are trying desperately to hang onto their beliefs and their base…..but they are losing their grip the minions in Congress are making it difficult for a conservative to embrace the GOP.

The GOP for a couple of decades could depend on the blue collar worker for support but that support is sliding…..

Our news feeds this year have been saturated with dispatches from Donald Trump’s America. Media outlets deployed journalists to regions besieged by rapid globalization, technological advances, and demographic change, where they attempted to explain the anger that inspired voters to embrace a figure like Trump. Their written pieces created a kind of niche journalism, presenting stories of what our nation failed to address with its transitioning economy. A number of these articles were accurate and empathetic portrayals of struggling communities, but too many of them patronized their subjects and reeked of condescension.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-the-gop-can-hang-on-to-the-working-class/

Then there are the Christian conservatives some are solidly embracing Trumpism which is giving the GOP some concern…….(key word in that sentence is “some”)…….but will they continue to support the GOP?

Republican nominee Roy Moore lost the vote in Alabama on Tuesday. To many, that defeat was comforting: Moore’s troubling background included lawlessness, extremism, and allegations of child molestation. He may not have lost by much—but with a tenfold increase in write-ins and a drop-off of 800,000 voters, it appears that Moore was too much for principled conservatives in Alabama.

Indeed, after crunching the numbers, economist Lyman Stone suggested that Moore had the lowest white evangelical support of any Alabama Republican in the 21st century:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-republican-party-doesnt-own-christian-conservatives/

To be honest I do not see the GOP turning their backs on Trumpism right now….they are getting what they have desired for 30 years…a tax cut for the wealthy and the promise of attacks on Social Security and Medicare to start….Congress is thumping their chest with pride now….

Now will that support remain next year? Damn good question. I would say that it will depend on the events that are forming as I type.

Will the US continue to be a conservative state and maker no mistake matters not who is elected we are a conservative state….but a good question if you know what is meant by a conservative state……let me offer you some help…..

Over the last several years, amidst the swirls of overt corruption, immigrant “hordes,” rising “national security” concerns, police militarization, bloated empire, and the so-called deepening of the “deep state,” conservatives and libertarians of all stripes have pondered the meaning of the modern state. Most recently, Paul Moreno has brilliantly considered the rise of The Bureaucratic Kings, Alex Salter has wisely questioned the relationship of anarchy (the Bohemian, Nockian variety) to conservatism, and, though I have yet to read what the always thoughtful Jason Kuznicki of Cato recommends, there is also James C. Scott’s Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States. Believe me, I am intrigued. Each of these authors and recommenders, of course, owes an immense debt to the pioneering work of Robert Higgs’s magnum opus, Crisis and Leviathan (1987), and Higgs, in turn, had followed in the footsteps of such 20th century greats as Christopher Dawson, Robert Nisbet, Friedrich Hayek, and Joseph Schumpeter.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/birzer/the-origins-of-the-modern-state-a-conservative-view/

A lot to take in but if you consider yourself a conservative then I think you need to read and understand…..

Peace out

Why Conservatives Hate War

I know you think because the someone is associated with the GOP makes them a conservative…..not so.

Most of what people think are conservatives are actually neocons or war mongers in the first degree.

Many conservatives feel the way I do….they are opposed to war especially the wars we are fighting now….open ended war that does little to provide any security to the homeland except in slogan only.

I guess the clods in Congress nowadays would call these conservatives RINOs…..because they love them some slogan that they can use at the next Trump rally of dunces.

The American Conservative had a recent article that covered why conservatives dislike war…..(a good article, BTW)

One of the odder aspects of present-day politics is the assumption that if you are antiwar you are on the left, and if you are conservative you are “pro-war.” Like labelling conservative states red and liberal states blue, this is an inversion of historical practice.

The opposition to America’s entry into both World Wars was largely led by conservatives. Senator Robert A. Taft, the standard-bearer of postwar conservatism, opposed war unless the United States itself was attacked. Even Bismarck, after he had fought and won the three wars he needed to unify Germany, was staunchly antiwar. He once described preventive war, like the one America is being pressured to wage on Iran, as “committing suicide for fear of being killed.”

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-conservatives-hate-war/

I am finding as the days go by that I have a lot in common with real conservatives and not those mental midgets RINOs that support Trump and that toad Bannon.

Why Do They Hate So?

For decades now the Right has had a hard on for higher education. They take every opportunity to degrade anyone with an advanced degree as some sort of elitist.

The burning question is why do conservatives hate higher education? I have my thoughts but I am usual a bit harsh…..but someone has to have a good idea where higher education became such a negative force in our society.

Conservatives don’t like professors. When conservative Republicans were asked to gauge their feelings about college professors, over half gave a “cold” response, while only 24% were “warm”. I experience that disdain in the comments that conservatives make to my columns, where the word “professor” itself is a taunt, a curse.

Conservatives don’t like the institutions where professors work. A recent Pew poll found that only 29% of conservative Republicans thought that colleges and universities have a positive impact on our country.

Republican politicians encourage these views. Betsy DeVos, the new Secretary of Education, was explicit in her condemnation of professors as she was being confirmed: “The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community.”

Source: Why Conservatives Don’t Like Higher Ed – LA Progressive

At what point will this continue? There are many incidents in history where the first people to be deposed by an authoritarian regime are the educated and community leaders.

Hope do these people hope to gain by demonizing the educated?

Closing Thought–22Aug17

Good CEO, Good President!

For decades the GOP has been pushing candidates that have been successful businessmen/women…there premise is that if one can run a business with all its intricacies then they should be a success as a president….I have NEVER thought that was an accurate statement….but low info voters buy into the BS every time.

The election of 2016 has pretty much put that BS line to bed…..

If you were wondering exactly how Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci was able to weasel his way into the White House, you have to recall that he wasn’t only a Donald Trump sycophant; he was also touted as a businessman who could “fix” problems career politicians couldn’t.

Source: How the Demise of the Trump Administration Could Finally Kill the White House CEO Fantasy | Alternet

Every day Trump proves just how inept he is at governing….he likes to think that he is a successful CEO and that government can be run like his businesses in NYC…..without some governmental experience then the job becomes overwhelming…..yews there have been successful business men that have made it as far as president….but each one has had some rudimentary experience in running a government.

Naivete…..amateurs cannot successfully run a government as complex as that of the United States.

Time to back off and start considering the direction for tomorrow’s posts….see you guys tomorrow with more stuff…….chuq

Red States: GOP Strong

I live in the Deep South and for years I have been trying to explain why this region and others are so hard core GOP.

I have approached it from many different angles and as of yet I have not found a good excuse for their voting habits or their political attitudes.

Then recently I came upon an article written for the Daily Beast about this phenom…..the explanations are valid and thought provoking…..

In my neck of the woods, even two gay men in 2004 didn’t want to be Democrats. We can change this stigma—but we need to learn how to speak Republican.

You have known her for 30 years. She was in your wedding. She is smart and has a big heart. The day you realized she voted for Trump you were thunderstruck. “Who is this stranger?” you thought. Literally, your entire understanding of her crumbles. She feels your judgment and resents it. The dynamic of this relationship changes. It may evolve, but it will not be the same.

I may be able to help explain this communication and understanding gap and how to bridge it. I am a Democrat who speaks fluent Republican.

Source: Why the Republican Brand Is So Strong Where I Live

And at times it seems as if Repubs are living in some alternate political universe and it has become more likely with the election of Trump…..

A new SurveyMonkey poll shows shocking data that reveals President Donald Trump’s Republican supporters are living in a totally different reality than everyday Americans.

According to an Axios report, one-third of Republicans only get their news from Fox News and 89 percent of Republicans trust news coming from Trump before they see it on CNN.

Over the weekend, Trump tweeted a video showing him literally attacking CNN and leaving it flattened. Many took issue with the graphic as journalists are increasingly being attacked and threatened.

Source: Poll Reveals Republicans Really Do Live in an Alternative Universe | Alternet

What say you? Do our Repub brethren live in an alternative universe?

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Tag: Conservatives