I know many people and I enjoy people. I am a social creature. I also enjoy good political conversation with thought-provoking dialog. Some of the folks I know and with whom I have good intelligent conversations are Democrats, some are Republicans, some are liberal, some are conservative, and there are some who are anywhere within that range. I, myself, can lean right or left depending on the subject matter. In some areas, I am a liberal; in other areas, I am conservative; and still, in other areas, I am moderate.
Unfortunately, not many people can have a good intelligent conversation when it comes to politics. A lot of people have political thoughts and love to cram them down other people's throats. Those folks are generally strongly opinionated without having any factual bases for their opinions.
I have a high regard for anyone who can discuss any subject intelligently and with knowledge of that about which they are speaking whether it be current events, social sciences, natural sciences, technical stuff, religion, politics, or whatever. But lately, I have had some terrible, horrible attempts at political conversation with some moronic conservatives who have absolutely no clue as to how the government works, how politics works, or how laws are enacted and by whom.
I have no problem at all with thinking political conservatives; and, in fact, I enjoy discussing politics with them. It is the idiots with whom I have a problem.
I recently read an article in the Arizona Republic written by Richard Nilsen about political conservatives that pretty much hits the head as to my own thoughts. Following below are a few excerpts from that article:
"What was once an intellectual movement, ...... has decayed into a kind of anti-intellectual populism built on a foundation of bumper stickers."
"Hard-line conservatives everywhere want to keep what they have."
"In the United States, that means holding down 15th place in the United Nations Human Development Index (a sort of standard-of-living measurement."
"The U.S. is only 16th in its poverty rate, 17th in literacy, 30th in life expectancy, 33rd in infant mortality, and does not even make the list of top-20 nations in student performance in math, science, or reading."
"The conservative has always been suspicious of other nations and cultures, but such suspicion was once based on a belief that human nature ...... Now, that suspicion seems based in nativism, jingoism, and know-nothingism."
"I am not making my point against Republicans, per se. Party politics has almost nothing to do with political philosophy; it is a dog-eat-dog struggle for raw, bloody-clawed power."
"... modern conservatism seems to have regressed into a kind of infantilism."
Click on over to read the article "Why I am not a conservative" in its entirety.
I could not have done better in espousing my own views on this subject.
2 comments:
Roland,
I am much in agreement with the sentiments expressed here, but would hesitate to define a true conservative by these examples. I find that some on both sides of discussion (though I am happy to say, not you) have difficulty expressing themselves without acrimony or rancor.
I believe that it was Jascha Heifetz who said that "No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other".
It was Churchill however that I believe said, "A young man who is not a liberal has no heart. An old man who is not a conservative has no brain."
Roland,
Well put except that I feel that one further point needs to be made.
This point is universal in that it applies to both political parties:
I am a conservative, but not necessarily a Republican, as the former is a belief while the latter is a political affiliation.
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