Political Memes

There's a certain level of childish contrarianism going on. "I was going to do this, but now I have learned you want me to do it and so I'm going to refuse"

My brother and I tried to convince our father to install solar panels when he was considering replacing our parents' entire roof due to age. The house was perfect for it: it wasn't shaded by trees, the roof was a 35 degree angle facing mostly to the south, the whole roof needed to be replaced, and there where still some really good tax advantages at the time.

We ran all the numbers for him, showed how it would pay for itself in something like 5 years and actually generate money for him after that, how the tax breaks would save so much money, how a large home battery could be used to power the home when the electricity is out due to Indiana's frequent tornadoes and storms...

Nope. Saving tens of thousands of dollars wasn't enough to overcome the dangers of Critical Race Theory powered panels generating a woke communist DEI field that is going to transgender the tan suit wearing raccoons of the Southern Indiana AntiFa Brigade.

I'm glad he died before COVID hit. He would absolutely have been the sort to say that wearing a mask is something only blue haired lesbian socialists do and gotten our mother killed.

The problem is that if they almost have a good idea, they add "for white people" at the end. Gun rights for white people. Financial freedom for white people. Low taxes for white people.

There are aspects of "Make America Healthy Again" that are actually good ideas but the problem is that they are tied to extremely bad ones. Like getting rid of artificial dyes in food and improving food purity are good ideas on the surface, but they're tied to dumb ass ideas like seed oil panic and anti vax. Furthermore, none of this stuff is actually being supported by law. It's all just rhetoric and the actual law and policy changes are just more pro corporate nonsense and all action taken by corporations so far has been voluntary statements saying they'll do something in the future. I think this is the real problem of the conservative movement at least in its current form. Even when they stumble upon a good idea, the fact that there is no underlying logical framework to that idea other than just further enriching those in charge means that said idea can't be implemented properly and without other nonsense.

Are we talking conservatives in theory here, or conservatives in practice?

In theory, it's not a matter of right or wrong, it's a matter of balance. The government needs brakes, it needs people who look at every issue from the perspective of "should we do this thing, how far should we go with it, and how much should it cost". In practice, conservatives have had way too much power for far too long. They've gone past the point of being brakes, and become full-on regressives that have been co-opted by corporations and religious fanatics that flock to the stability and "traditional values" that the ideology initially had as it's foundation.

Are there any issues where conservatives are correct?

If you look at earlier 19th and early 20th century conservatives, they absolutely make pretty good points.

More than a few social safety systems world wide were instituted by conservatives, under the thinking that people are fucking shit to eachother and thus it falls to institutions to take care of basic needs. A famous example is the German welfare state created by Bismarck.

A lot of natural beauty has been protected by conservatives, because they used to believe in actually conserving things.

Conservatives of the past have done a LOT of good in preventing and reversing government overreach in personal liberties.

I could have absolutely had a great discussion with a conservative from 1925. We would have some major disagreements, but more than a few similarities. And a modern conservative would loathe everything about that same past conservative.

I think the reason it’s hard to find a good answer is that their opinions aren’t based on anything logical, just whatever they’re told to believe at the moment. A person with no truly held convictions cannot be right about anything.

This isn't too far from what has been researched. Take a gander: https://theauthoritarians.org/

I've seen local rural conservitards who are anti-data center. its mostly because they're old and don't understand computers but as a self hosting advocate I'm all for it.

"The positions my political party takes is always correct. Those who disagree with my political party are always wrong" is the single most intellectually bankrupt, arrogant, and narcissistic view a person can have.

It shows a complete lack of critical thinking and a deep, outright religious zeal for the message of the doctrine of the political party they worship.

Both the Right and the Left agree you shouldn't get to freeload off other people's work, they just disagree on who it is that's doing the freeloading...

Not in the US at least.

It's a good thing that Fascism and Marxiism/Leninism aren't the only two options.

exactly