Robert Reich articulated something that has been bouncing around my head since 2016
What amazed me is that Trump managed to deeply entrench himself in suburban Republicans. I had several family friends growing up that were that sort of “I’m socially liberal but fiscally conservative” folks that supported gay marriage but have since jumped the fucking shark into crazy town.
The surprising thing to me is just how little backbone those asshats have.
Not all of us. That used to describe me. But I realized fiscal conservatism isn’t being responsible with money, it’s using money to pursue a conservative social agenda. Now I’m just a cheap liberal.
In a saner world, I’d probably consider myself a conservative, in the world we actually live in though, I’m not touching anything the conservative parties have anything to do with.
I generally think that things should overall trend towards being more liberal, and conservatism should just kind of be a moderating factor, not really working against a liberal agenda, just kind of slowing it down, making sure everything is fully thought through before we jump into anything, that the plans and funding and contingencies and such are in place, and in some cases just slowing things down because some stubborn assholes (mostly the current “conservatives”) need to be eased into certain changes because their tiny minds will explode if you go to fast
You are describing an actual Conservative, basically someone who acts like a brake. They can slow down or even temporarily stop progress to buy time while things are thought through. For all practical purposes these people no longer exist in the Republican Party. They’ve been replaced by MAGA.
However MAGA aren’t “Conservatives” because they don’t function as brakes. To stick with the vehicle theme MAGA is trying to shift the vehicle into reverse. They aren’t just trying to stop progress they are actively trying to go backwards!. IMO these people should be called “Regressives” because that word most accurately describes their political goals. They want to unwind progress and regress to a previous time and state of existence.
Speaking as someone who considers themselves a lefty, this is the kind of conservative I want to have a voice in my government (like, 39 seats in the Senate tops kind of voice, but it’s a worthy perspective and engaging with it makes progressive plans stronger)
I used to have a friend like this.
Back in 2008, it was clear that she was watching Fox News for her primary source of “information” about the world and politics. Even then, it was a constant headache to push back against the one-sided, stilted, non-scientific, ideological slop that channel churns out. Since this was an election year, Facebook just made it even worse. She constantly re-posted all manner of emotionally provocative nonsense without thinking.
After the election, it only got worse. I watched this person go from semi-reasonable and rational, to a slowly devolving, emotionally driven, irrational, and fearful person over the following three years. It was as if reason itself was slowly draining out of her life. To make matters worse: at the start of this, all of her friends were socially liberal and left-leaning to deep left politically. I, along with a lot of others, slowly pulled out of her social sphere. I think she only has political sparring partners left on Facebook.
What makes me sad is that, outside of anything involving politics, this person was generous, kind, a great host, outgoing, and fun-loving. I want my friend back, but I also can’t afford the time to babysit another person’s broken brain forever.
The only reason suburbs even became a thing in this country was because white people with FHA loans wanted nice houses close to their jobs and the amenities of cities but didn’t want their tax money going to fund black kids schools, and a lot (not all but a lot) of “socially liberal but fiscally conservative” people just want to get recognition for being an ally but descend into the kind of thinking and talking that would make Stephen Miller blush the moment they’re actually asked to actually do anything to support marginalized communities, so I’m not surprised at all to see suburban Republicans fall for this
e; technically it wasn’t the white people with the FHA loans who created the suburbs as we know them today so much as it was the ones administering them and in the halls of power voting on the creation of municipalities
The only reason suburbs even became a thing in this country was because white people with FHA loans wanted nice houses close to their jobs and the amenities of cities but didn’t want their tax money going to fund black kids schools,
Hang on, that doesn’t track with history as I know it currently.
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is where the whole garbage “separate but equal” logic came from including on school funding where everyone but whites got poor resources for schools.
- Suburbs were created as a result of soldiers returning from WWII which would have been starting in 1945 with a the majority in 1946 after VJ day with the Japanese surrendering.
- It would be another 8 years before Brown v Board of Education (1954) shot down “separate but equal” for schools allowing integration, and even then it wouldn’t have meant instant emptying of inner cities for suburbs until the early 60s or so.
So suburbs already were a thing and not caused by white people not wanting to fund black schools. Yes, exit to suburbs accelerated because of that, but suburbs weren’t created because of it.
Prior to Brown, many of today’s suburban municipalities were just neighborhoods of the cities they were near, neighborhoods that were almost entirely populated by white people due to racist administration of FHA loans, racist zoning laws, and racist real estate business practices. Post Brown is when a lot of them started to be spun off into independent municipal governments by state legislatures with their own mayors and city councils and school districts.
So, rereading it now, I feel like I should correct my initial comment here - it wasn’t the white people with FHA loans who started this process of creating segregated communities, it was the ones who administered those loans and who were writing the laws incorporating them as independent government entities.
The 'burbs mostly got built by GIs returning from WWII. There wasn’t room enough in the cities for all of them. I strongly doubt that “tax money going to fund black kids schools” was even a thought for most of them, let alone a primary motivator.
Post WW2 was when racial segregation was still legal. Redlining was a long documented thing and definitely included tax money going to schools.
It ended with the tea party bullshit
“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.”
—Barry Goldwater, Conservative Republican, 1981
This was the sack of shit who successfully dealt with segregationists and brought them fully into the Republican party with his Presidential campaign in 1964, so I’m sure he did try with the preachers too
There is no GOP, there is only MAGA and enemies of MAGA.
Honestly, the Reagan years were pretty much the same. This is a group of people that approach everything like it’s a religion, including politics. Their world view is so based in contradiction, false dichotomies and blind faith that they’re always looking for the next Messiah to tell them what to do, that every asshole that recognizes this can take advantage of them right down to their magic underwear.
Reagan’s rise coincided with ascent of the first conservative generation raised on Rand and Objectivism. Amd that took over the role of religion.
And they were still bitter about all the attention those damn hippies took from them.
That party was over back in 2010 when they invited tea party in
nah. its been a steady decline. reagan to newt to bush jr to mcconel to trump. every time I can’t think there is any lower to sink it just gets worse.
I don’t know. I think there was some gas thrown on the fire with the Tea Party horseshit. Electing a black two-term President really seemed to have brought the crazy to a boiling point.
My theory is that the tea party didn’t have much do with a black president. It was around that time that social media really took off, and we saw the start of what is now a constant and organised firehose of conservative bullshit spread across it. And there’s an audience receptive to that bullshit.
The Republican Party is now under the control of people who have been immersed in that environment. And it’s only going to get worse.
I mean trump now does seem even more crazy. that dog and pony show and talk about line up. seems when trump says suck dick republicans of today reply how deep.
