Failed Ideologies - Communism & Conservatism
As the Republican control of the federal government continues its spiral down the toilet, the latest ass-saving tactic of conservatives appears to be to claim that Bush is not a conservative.
This is just like the communists, who upon the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites, claimed the fault was not of communism but of those who misapplied it.
The Bush Presidency and the Republican controlled Congress are the pragmatic application of conservatism. Left unchecked, conservatism destroys itself through corruption, foreign policy arrogance and overreaching and domestic policy cronyism and callousness.
The only question left is what moment will be remembered as Conservatism's Berlin Wall?
This is just like the communists, who upon the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites, claimed the fault was not of communism but of those who misapplied it.
The Bush Presidency and the Republican controlled Congress are the pragmatic application of conservatism. Left unchecked, conservatism destroys itself through corruption, foreign policy arrogance and overreaching and domestic policy cronyism and callousness.
The only question left is what moment will be remembered as Conservatism's Berlin Wall?
posted by Macswain at
3:19 PM
5 Comments:
The current issue of Atlantic Monthly has an interesting article that is relevant. You have to be a subscriber to read the whole thing, though.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200606/tax-cuts
By
Anonymous, at 7:23 PM
Summary of article:
"By turning a limited-government movement into an anti-tax movement, conservatism has effectively gone into business with the Big Government that it claims to oppose. It is not starving the beast. It is fueling the beast’s appetite. And the beast has a credit card."
By
Anonymous, at 7:25 PM
Interesting thought, MacSwain - conservatism as a failed ideology. Only, I think its a little glib.
First, what *is* conservatism, in your view - a particular set of people, or an ideology? I *know* what communism was - the idea that the means of production should be held in common (or, as a transitional measure, owned by the government) to prevent private owners from exploiting workers and consumers. I also know that it failed, because it turned out that the government wasn't overall a better boss or supplier than private citizens, particularly when you couldn't quit, because there were no other bosses or suppliers to go to if you were dissatisfied.
What is "conservatism" which you say has failed? The idea that government should be kept as small as possible? The Bush administrtion hasn't really pushed this too hard. The idea that tax rates should be kept low, to encourage economic growth? This, at least, seems to be working (though it is uncoupled with spending reduction, see above, producing deficits). The idea that government should not be reflexively hostile to business? Many "liberals" seem to feel this way, too. The idea that the meaning of the Constitution can be discovered by reading its literal words? A foreign policy which is interventionist rather than isolationist? This used to be thought a "liberal" policy.
It is plain that a lot of people don't like George W. Bush. But, it is also revealing that the criticisms of his policies are all over the map - not enough troops in Iraq, but not getting out fast enough - too beligerent on Iran, but too soft on North Korea (or maybe vice versa).
Neither "liberals" nor "conservatives" today really have a crisply defined philosophy. Both "sides" really have a cloud of positions, which have very little common logical basis. Maybe this is failure. Or, maybe it is the result of success - both sides getting their core points broadly accepted in society, so all that is left to fight about is who gets to march in the front of the political parade.
Publius.
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