I don’t even know his politics but I’m reluctant to call Putin a conservative (and that means something else outside of the US anyway).
Putin is a murderous, crusading mobster who happens to run a country.
Conservatism is about maintaining the current status quo. The preexisting status quo across the world was dictator to some degree. The USSR, despite calling itself socialist, was still an oligopoly-ran system where the rulers simply used the language of socialism to take the means of production from the workers.
Conservatives also tend to love to use national identity to corral disparate ideologies that are willing to put country over principles, too.
Putin actively maintains the oligopoly and rule-by-fear of Russia and the USSR. He actively maintains the national identity of Russia. He actively protects the status quo corruption that keeps him in office.
Putin is a conservative in nearly every way a leader can be conservative for Russia.
But assuming the Russian revolution originated from the workers, how could anyone ever hope to avoid either oligarchy or dictatorship? Is there some mistake they made that you believe we could avoid, or do you we can never escape having a government like this?
I think the key is to not let evil rulers like Lenin or Stalin use the socialist sentiments that rise during hard times. People love it when someone makes their problems easier, even if it’s only in words. Authoritarians love to use such opportunities to lie to people to take power.
Just look at Trump. What messaging did he win on? Nationality and empty promises to better peoples’ lives while he cut the rich’s taxes. If he weren’t such a self-centered pr*ck, we’d have been in much greater danger of going much further down the fascist-in-actuality path.
It takes people recognizing that someone offering too-easy of solutions either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is trying to pull a fast one, or both. So… we’re screwed.
Anti-LGBT imperialist who promotes a strong man image of himself and operates a thuggish government. With all of the propaganda and lack of freedom of speech and media in Russia, sounds like he’s a fascist more than your garden variety conservative.
I don’t even know his politics but I’m reluctant to call Putin a conservative (and that means something else outside of the US anyway). Putin is a murderous, crusading mobster who happens to run a country.
Conservatism is about maintaining the current status quo. The preexisting status quo across the world was dictator to some degree. The USSR, despite calling itself socialist, was still an oligopoly-ran system where the rulers simply used the language of socialism to take the means of production from the workers.
Conservatives also tend to love to use national identity to corral disparate ideologies that are willing to put country over principles, too.
Putin actively maintains the oligopoly and rule-by-fear of Russia and the USSR. He actively maintains the national identity of Russia. He actively protects the status quo corruption that keeps him in office.
Putin is a conservative in nearly every way a leader can be conservative for Russia.
But assuming the Russian revolution originated from the workers, how could anyone ever hope to avoid either oligarchy or dictatorship? Is there some mistake they made that you believe we could avoid, or do you we can never escape having a government like this?
I think the key is to not let evil rulers like Lenin or Stalin use the socialist sentiments that rise during hard times. People love it when someone makes their problems easier, even if it’s only in words. Authoritarians love to use such opportunities to lie to people to take power.
Just look at Trump. What messaging did he win on? Nationality and empty promises to better peoples’ lives while he cut the rich’s taxes. If he weren’t such a self-centered pr*ck, we’d have been in much greater danger of going much further down the fascist-in-actuality path.
It takes people recognizing that someone offering too-easy of solutions either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is trying to pull a fast one, or both. So… we’re screwed.
Anti-LGBT imperialist who promotes a strong man image of himself and operates a thuggish government. With all of the propaganda and lack of freedom of speech and media in Russia, sounds like he’s a fascist more than your garden variety conservative.