Of all the schisms that cleave contemporary America, few are more stark than the divide between those who consider themselves to be victims of US history and those who fear they will be casualties of its future.
Of all the schisms that cleave contemporary America, few are more stark than the divide between those who consider themselves to be victims of US history and those who fear they will be casualties of its future.
I don’t believe in putting the worst possible spin and interpretation on one person or party and giving the other a complete pass. I was hoping for an objective assessment of conservatives motives and beliefs, but it was pretty much the same old “conservatives are racist”. Trying to distill it down to racism is ignorant at best, but is more likely just another opinion piece with an agenda. Is Trump tapping into nationalist tendencies? Well yeah, but that’s not what characterizes conservatives in general, and it’s not racist in and of itself. Nationalism isn’t necessarily racist (though it can be, and to some it is), specifically it’s pride in what the nation stands for and what is required to maintain the nation the way it is. Or at least the essence that makes the nation. Again, to some this has racism at its roots, but to most (in my experience), it’s about ideals and values that are irrelevant of race. What do you think are the core differences between progressives and conservatives? What is the true, fundamental difference in world view between one who is conservative and one who is progressive?
One believes government can be leveraged to encourage/enact positive change, that a lot of people need to be coerced into doing what’s right (read: business owners) and that a population doesn’t need to reenforce or retain one race as their majority, that a diverse population breeds creativity and growth is inspired by such.
The other believes that government shouldn’t be responsible for anything other than the defense of the country, that the society of that nation is almost entirely decided by the race and culture of a given majority and that it should always remain as such. (Read: there’s your racism) and that might makes right (money = power. You gained that money however you did and therefore what you do with it is always morally correct.)
Thanks for actually answering the question! I would distill it down a little further though, and say that the difference between conservative and progressive is that progressives believe that human nature is malleable and that the system can be used to drive humanity in a positive direction. On the other hand, conservatives believe that human nature cannot be fundamentally changed and that attempts to do so will result in dystopia of some kind, or an overall decrease in happiness as humankind strays further from it’s nature. Obviously there are people within either of these camps who take things way too far. I don’t remember where I read this theory, but it’s the only one that has held up over the years and in various contexts.
Human nature has nothing to do with it, and whoever gave you that theory was selling something.
“Progressives” are a form of liberal that seek to preserve the status quo by allowing minor alterations to relieve the pressure of the system’s internal contradictions. “Conservatives”, in contrast, are liberals who want to preserve the status quo by enforcing its hierarchies against whoever they perceive as being an outside influence.
Classical Liberals, the whole lot of them.
I suppose the third type of person is a revolutionary, who wants to throw it away and start over. But then what, continue the cycle of revolution once the next generation arrives? Or is there an end point? Do you think it can actually be achieved? From a practical perspective, does human nature allow that?
Yeah. It seems to me that a society that reinvents itself for each new generation would be more dynamic and responsive to the needs of the people it serves than the ten plus generations of stagnation we’ve had in the USA.
Regressives are racist, though. They specifically chose to be racist theocrats as part of Southern Strategy. They ran a racist who said Mexicans are rapists and thieves (ironically he is a rapist and a thief). They are currently running a racist who is saying Haitian people are stealing pets and eating them.
“This article is too biased because it correctly presents the racist nationalism party as participating in racist nationalism.”
You literally made no effort to understand my comment.
You literally made no effort to understand the article
The current GOP is still entrenched in their Southern Strategy. To quote Lee Atwater:
This plus fundamentalist Christianity is the basis of the modern GOP playbook, only now it’s Latinos that are the target, at least moreso than blacks
Sure we can’t distill it down to just racism since the GOP has become so entrenched with the religious right, so let’s just call it Christofascist Racism, but let’s not ignore 60 years of Republican racism and bullshit
Edit: Lemmy blocks the n-word even when it’s a direct quote, but Atwater was using that derogatory term for blacks in the above quote
That’s just demagoguery. There’s a guy I know who thinks progressives hate America and everything they do is for the sole purpose of destroying it. It’s like that. I get that it’s far simpler to reduce your (political) enemies that way, but it’s lazy and uninteresting to me.
Your guy isn’t in the inner circle of the highest ranking members of a party. Atwater was, and refer to the quote above. Rather than being overt, they couch the racism in other terms, but it’s the same terms.
Since the 1960s and the ERA and Nixon, racism and fear-of-the-Other has been intrinsic to the Republican party.
Like… Per their own words. In the quote I referenced. From someone in the inner circle of the Republican party, and who helped them get elected. How? By preying on the fear-of-the-Other ie racism
Defending nationalism. Great stance.
If you have no interest in a discussion, you can just say that.