30 Years of Conservative Nonsense.

[toddwv]

This is a great read. A bit long as internet fare goes, but worth reading. The comments are good for perusal as well.


http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2014/11/conservative-nonsense-political-history

Are conservatives ever right?

The question isn’t meant to suggest that liberals are never wrong. But reviewing the last few decades of conservative policy initiatives—or their objections over that timespan to policies they hate—shows a consistent pattern of failure: predictions never pan out, and intended results turn to catastrophic flops.

Given the G.O.P.’s midterm victories this week, the question is of particular import. Come January, conservatives will have control of both houses of Congress, and hold a considerable legislative advantage in the last two years of the Obama presidency. Yet not a week ago, conservative politicians and commentators were screaming out batty ideas as they demanded that President Obama close the borders over Ebola, ignoring the advice of infectious disease specialists who know that shutting borders against a disease leads people to make travel by means that aren’t easily tracked, escalates danger, and harms the ability to stop the infection at its source. Conservative know-nothings dismiss the professionals as know-nothings themselves, despite their training and expertise.

[unrepentant progress]

1. Only 30?

It goes all the way back to Edmund Burke.

[Dale Neiburg]

2. For them, isn't failure success?

Their whole mantra is that government is the enemy and can never do anything good for people. If they ever actually did do anything to make people's lives better, they'd be disproving their whole philosophy. By predicting failure, and then consistently failing, they manage to demonstrate that they were right all along.

[toddwv]

3. It's more than just predicting failure.

It's actively ensuring the failure. Defund, deregulate, and then complain that "gubmint" isn't working. It's an insidious tactic that is extremely effective.