March 20, 2008

IMPEACH BUSH

IMPEACH CHENEY

CONSERVATISM IS A ROTTEN PHILOSOPHY

No matter how they try to dress it up, conservatives really believe in one thing: greed. Supposedly, if we all look out for number one society will thrive. It's a little like saying when the ship is sinking you should jump in the lifeboat and kick everyone else out. It's survival of the fittest, as long as the fittest is you. This column by Alicia Morgan is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

That's the essence of the conservative worldview: as long as I've got mine, I don't care if you have yours. The idea of everyone pursuing his or her own self-interest, then by the invisible hand, the self-interest of all will be maximized, or in the parlance of the Eighties, "Greed is good!" - is the one-size-fits-all answer to poverty, to injustice, to inequality. But what it boils down to in real life is "I've got mine." The idea that every person that works full-time is due enough compensation to support themselves, let alone a family, doesn't even enter into the calculation. It's okay for other people to be underpaid, overworked, taken advantage of. All that matters is - it's not me.

This is why conservatism just plain doesn't work - at least for the kind of society we say we want as Americans. There has to be some kind of consideration for more than just 'me and mine'. The place we're at right now - teetering on the brink of an economic collapse that could easily become a depression, embroiled in a grotesque, bloody occupation with no end in sight, pretending to be 'liberators' with no concern as to whether the country we're occupying wants us there or not, with a Vice-President who doesn't care how many Americans object to the war (apparently the two-thirds of Americans who say it's not worth fighting are merely exhibiting 'fluctuations in opinion', like toddlers who don't like apple juice today, but loved it yesterday), with the largest divide between rich and poor since the robber barons of the Gilded Age - is a place that conservatism, with its selfish, childish and short-sighted "I got mine" has brought us to.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONSERVATISM'S DISASTERS

The consequences of conservatism are manifold and disastrous except for the very few at the top of the economic pyramid. After years of propaganda about "big government" and taxes, conservatives had the chance to try out their ideas on a national and international stage. We see the sorry results. This article by Eric Lotke is at www.truthout.org:

Modern conservatism is dying. There's still an election to be held, but conservatism as we've known it since Ronald Reagan is failing - ground down in the desert of Iraq, drowned in the floods of Hurricane Katrina, foreclosed by the housing crisis and poisoned by toys imported from China.

The American people are figuring this out. While conservatives repeat their time-worn slogans - "small government, low taxes, high security" - the American people are living the consequences.

We've seen eight years of a conservative presidency, six years overlapping with a conservative Congress, and 30 years of broadly conservative ideology. Now reality is showing how the values embodied in those slogans have been betrayed.

Conservatives say "shrink government." We get inadequate levees, exploding steam pipes and schools without textbooks. Conservatives say "deregulate," and now Thomas the Tank Engine is painted with toxic lead. Conservatives say "low taxes," but it primarily applies to millionaires, billionaires and crony corporations.

And eventually, my conservative friends, even you may find yourself holding the short end of the stick. You may end up being the one treading water while someone else roars away to safety in the speedboat, oblivious to your cries for help. The policy of "I got mine" only leads to fewer and fewer people who have "got theirs" and more and more people who get next to nothing. Sooner or later, you'll be one of the latter. It's just a matter of time.