Thom Hartmann: Why Would Anyone Proudly Call Themselves a Conservative?

[thomhartmann]

According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center - "Conservative" was the second most positively viewed political term in America - right behind "Progressive." Heck - Republicans love the label so much - their biggest political conference of the year is CPAC - The CONSERVATIVE Political Action Conference. But - I'm trying to figure out why exactly that is. I'm trying to figure out why anyone - given our nation's history - would want to call themselves a Conservative today in America. They say that "Conservative" means someone who embraces traditional values, limited government, moderate change, and fiscal restraint. But those are just weasel words, the velvet glove over the brutal fist of an autocratic, authoritarian, and oligarchic form of governance. Here's the reality of what Conservatives have ACTUALLY done to this nation in it's 230-year plus history.

First off, it was Conservatives who opposed the American Revolution, and many of them joined the British in fighting against George Washington's army. Then, conservatives, at the birth of our nation, pushed to restrict voting rights at the federal level to only white men who owned property - although progressives like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison blocked those efforts - so conservatives at the state level picked up that cause.

It was Conservatives who wanted to keep the "traditional American value" of slavery and fought progressive Abraham Lincoln so fiercely it led to an incredibly bloody and horrific Civil War. In the aftermath of the Civil War - Conservatives supported Jim Crow laws to keep freed slaves as second-class citizens.

Conservatives opposed women's suffrage all the way up until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 - and some still to this day - oppose it.

Wealthy Conservative elites opposed every advancement made by average working people - from the forty-hour work week - to child labor laws - to workplace safety laws.

During the 1950's - Conservatives embraced McCarthyism and the witchhunts that ruined the lives of thousands of Americans.

In the 1960's - Conservatives opposed the Civil Rights Act - which finally ended legal discrimination in America.

Every single advancement our nation has made - came DESPITE Conservative efforts to block it. As famed Conservative think William F. Buckley said: "A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so." At each turning point to give more rights to more Americans, to give more economic opportunity to more Americans, to make the workplace safer for more Americans - you name it - Conservatives have tried to stop it - while Progressives have fought, bled, and died to make sure it happens. And today - nothing has changed. Today - Conservatives are yelling "stop" when it comes to marriage equality.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to climate change legislation.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to equal pay for equal work for women.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to critical, life-saving stem-cell research.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to providing health insurance at an affordable cost to all Americans.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to immigration reform.

They're yelling "stop" when it comes to ending the failed drug war.

And not only are they yelling "stop" - but they're actively trying to undo most of the progressive victories over the last century that they opposed from the start.

That includes undoing a women's right to choose - or even have access to contraceptives.

It includes forcing women to submit to mandatory ultrasounds - like they're children or wards of the state.

It includes passing more and more right-to-work FOR LESS laws - further eroding the rights of working people in America.

It includes gutting food safety programs, unemployment benefits, and food stamps.

And it even includes sabotaging our economy recovery to achieve their ultimate political goal - kicking a black man out of the White House.

This is what Conservativism has been all about in America - and continues to be about: fear, discrimination, and corporate domination.

The Conservative principles of limited government and more freedom might sound good - but in practice it means less government to protect Americans from corporate abuses - and more freedom for people like the Koch brothers to pollute. It means less government to provide social services - and more freedom to die like a dog in the gutter without health insurance. That's been the message of the Conservative movement since the onset of the nation - always taking us backward when we should be moving forward.

So I'll ask the question again...why the hell would anyone proudly call themselves a Conservative?

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[lastlib]

1. I spent a long time trying to figure out just what conservatives wanted to conserve....

..and ultimately realized that what they wanted to conserve was--

Wealth for the wealthy, and power for the powerful. That is all.

[freshwest]

6. I wonder how many believe it has anything to do with 'conservation.' That was a great word once.

The right has also conflated the word 'right' with being correct, instead of its origin. I think they need to be called to heel, hard and often. It's been out of control since the 'religious right' began shilling for the GOP. Interesting that despite the non-stop mantra the right has put out agains the word 'progressive,' it's ahead of their banner word. I'm hoping for sanity to emerge again.

[jjewell]

2. Excellent editorial Thom!!!

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people..."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. A lot of regular people (ie non-politicians) call themselves 'conservative' because...

...they think of it in social behavioral terms, like it means 'not wild and crazy guys.'

[AsahinaKimi]

4. excellent rant

awesome, in fact!

[mabuhayp]

5. Why Would Anyone Proudly Call Themselves a Conservative?

Thom, I really like your piece on "Why Would Anyone Proudly Call Themselves a Conservative?" What you said is so true. Is it okay to forward it to many others I know?

[rwsanders]

7. Thanks Thom, perfectly stated (I wish you had added one thing)

I've been saying for awhile that the 3 legs of the conservative stool are ignorance, greed, and racism, you hit the same thing in different words.
I wish you had added something about FDR's second bill of rights. The right likes to tout their defense credentials, but if you look at the record they have never won a war since McKinley. They like to talk about the Greatest Generation of WW2, but they need to learn what they were fighting for. The nation got behind FDR because he was promoting a vision of equal opportunity and basic human rights for all (he saw that as the best prevention for a decent into fascism). As in the Declaration of Independence where it says ALL men are created equal with certain unalienable rights. Not people born in the U.S. (a roman system), but ALL men. FDR wanted to get that in writing. The nation needs to learn it.

[Amonester]

8. Because they really like to feel 'Authoritarian' until the day the shite...

happens to THEM.

They don't care when it happens to anyone BUT themselves.

The minute it starts to affect THEM, they start yielling and complaining.

It's not difficult to understand why.

They just can't think differently.

They've been framed since birth.

[HopeHoops]

9. I probably qualify as a conservative progressive, and I'll explain...

As Thom said, "embraces traditional values, limited government, moderate change, and fiscal restraint."

1) Embraces traditional values: I've been proudly married to the same lovely woman I met in '84. I have three adult (one near adult) daughters who can't understand the "slut" attitude they've seen in so many of their friends. We aren't prudes, but we brought them up to respect everyone and most importantly themselves.

2) Limited government: I don't think I need to go further than "KEEP YOUR DAMN LAWS OUT OF MY DAUGHTERS VAGINAS!"

3) Moderate change: We're lucky to even get that, but things move forward with time and that's a good thing.

4) Fiscal restraint: Lets see, Reagan, HW, and the shrub deficits vs. Clinton's surplus and Obama's reductions in spending. And don't even get me started on the military industrial complex.

So yes, I'm a conservative in that respect, but I'm a progressive in that I want equality for all and am offended when so called "Christians" do damn near everything possible to avoid anything Jesus is alleged to have professed. I'm offended by an unaccountable oligarchy, or plutocracy if you prefer. I'm offended by having a "free press" that has become an unflushed toilet of propaganda. I'm offended by the overt fascism the right is pushing and with some degree of success. As an American, and call me a nationalist if you will, I'm offended by a system that rewards destroying the lives of Americans for the sake of profits.

So, does "conservative progressive" fit?