Why Are Conservatives So Hostile Toward Liberals?
This question needs the answer to another question. What is it that conservatives actually “conserve?” What common denominator are conservatives always seeking, across all of these various issues — now and deep into the past? That would be their own advantage, privilege and power. This — and only this — is what they are always conserving. Conservatism is the Ideology of Selfishness.
Do not believe them when they say they believe in “Liberty.” They do not, as a universal principle. They believe, fervently, in their own “liberty,” not yours. Do not believe them when they say they believe in “Small Government.” They do not. They will unleash the biggest governments known… one that ever sides with the richest robber barons and largest corporations against the worker, the consumer, the family, fairness, the truth. They will establish a government that changes the historical record to suit its purposes, determines what you can read, how you can raise your children, who you can marry, where you can go to the restroom, and will crawl right into your bedroom… or your womb. They will foment a government that sets bounties on neighbors who do not conform. They will set up a king or other strongman who will demand complete capitulation and fealty. Do not believe them when they say they believe in a “free market.” They do not. They believe in an economy — and, indeed, society — rigged in their favor. Do not believe them when they say they believe in Jesus. They do not. They like believing they believe, but their actions — through history — speak far louder than their “thoughts and prayers.” Yet this faux “faith” helps them justify what they truly believe and practice: the precise opposite of what Jesus stood for … and the precise opposite of American ideals, as well.
What all of this means — and we see it across the centuries and in every current event — is that conservatives wish to reign superior over ALL other peoples… and the planet, itself. They believe themselves superior… full stop. They believe in a “dominator hierarchy.” Edmund Burke, the so-called “father of modern conservatism,” called this the “Chain of Subordination.” Others have called it the “Natural Order.” They believe it is natural that some people are meant to rule, some to be ruled; some are meant to be masters, others slaves; some meant to live rich, easy lives, and other destined to work and suffer until they drop dead, some to feast and some to starve. Hey, this is all in the Bible, so it can’t NOT be the way God intends things. Burke, himself, cautioned that people lower on the ranks of the hierarchy should not wish for anything more. Be happy with what you have. Let us — the wealthy, the educated, the elite — run things. Oh sure, rank-and-file conservatives are quick to hiss at the wealthy, educated, elite liberals who they believe stand against them, a belief that is mostly untrue, while they seek daddy figures among the rich, Harvard, Yale and Princeton grads and titans of dirty industries who know exactly how to manipulate conservatives into voting against their own interests while stealing them blind.
For much of world history, this is just how things were. No one thought to question the dominator hierarchy. Everyone was a conservative. Well, not exactly everyone. There were always pesky liberators — then called “radicals” — running loose here and there, making crazy claims about how there should be more empathy, compassion, fairness, liberty, even equality amongst peoples. These individuals were usually dispatched rather quickly by the conservative power at hand. Socrates, trying to liberate the mind, was condemned by…. conservatives. Jesus, trying to liberate the heart, was condemned by… conservatives. Bruno, Joan, Copernicus, Galileo… all freedom and truth-seekers… were persecuted by conservatives. The list goes on and on. “What we now know (and take for granted) as “liberalism” did not stand a chance against ages of “tradition” — the main tradition being “Might Makes Right,” which, of course, perfectly suits the dominator hierarchy.
Until…. well, evolution. Evolution of human ideas, conscience and culture. The printing press led to the Reformation and Renaissance, which led to the Enlightenment, which led to the American Revolution. Today we can hardly fathom how radically un-conservative the American “radicals” were, overthrowing king and church and all custom and tradition to create a government of “We the People.” It had never happened before. It had hardly been conceived of before. What? A nation where “all men are created equal.” It flipped upside down the “Natural Order” and the “Chain of Subordination.” It gave the middle finger to the notion that anyone was innately superior to another.
Conservatives hated everything about it. Then… and now. They crave to return to the days when “Might Makes Right” ruled. When you look around the world at the nations which today are the most “conservative,” Russia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Cuba, et al, you see this Grand Old bullying tenet still amply indulged. Conservatives LOVE to subjugate, dominate and oppress. War is heroic. Masculinity is intentionally toxic. Note how they treat women, people of different ethnicity or religion, people of different language or culture, people of alternative lifestyles, people who do not believe what they believe, animals, the environment, justice, truth, virtue. Conservatives LOVE an authority figure…. who will help them subjugate, dominate, oppress and bend to their will all things. They LOVE a starkly hierarchical, unfair society… so long as they are on the higher rungs and benefit from the unfairness.
Meanwhile, those “radicals,” those “liberators,” eventually became known as “liberals,” and continue to discover new peoples — and other things (animals, seas, rivers, forests, the climate, etc.) — to liberate. From what? Well, usually, conservatives “conserving.” EVERY rights movement has involved liberals liberating and conservatives conserving — often violently — the old status-quo which advantaged them. Liberals even have to do the proper “conserving” of all those values that conservatives refuse to do: the environment, justice for all, the truth, actual “American” and “Christian” ideals.
Liberals do not, generally, hate conservatives — — as dastardly as they are. Liberals seek a fair and more or less equal society… not in terms of wealth so much as in personhood and fair treatment in society. Liberals would welcome conservatives as full-fledged, valued members of such an equitable and just culture. Liberals want to fairly share America, as do liberals in their other nations, with every other citizen… including conservatives. Liberals believe people are mostly good, and that we are all in this together. Liberals see diversity as a feature, not a bug. Liberals are willing to sacrifice a little of their own advantage, privilege and power to help the “other” — which, they believe, creates a superior society. Cultures built upon liberal precepts seek to work for everyone, giving special privilege to no one. And, indeed, this is the very society envisioned by the United States Constitution. Read the Preamble, the most important part and overarching blueprint of the document.
But conservatives do not reciprocate this potential respect. In America they can hardly come right out and proclaim it (though some come close), but they despise the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. There are actually only five words they like in the whole of these two foundational documents: “liberty” (for themselves) and “right to bear arms.” The word “equality,” fundamentally important to true Americanism, gives them the willies. So, of course, they hate the liberals who seek to firmly establish the whole of these original American tenets.
They despise every Democrat politician… with special venom for any that is “other” (black, brown, female, immigrant, non-Christian, LGBTQ, etc.). They seethe with anger and resentment. They see liberals as the great enemy that would tear down their beloved, traditional, dominator hierarchy, and steal their “right” to rule, to reign supreme, to subjugate, to dominate, to oppress, to expand and enforce an authoritarian, conformist, bland, monolithic, regressive, unfair society. Conservatives see most people as sinful, dirty and dangerous, view them with disgust and recoil at sharing the world with such “others.” This dour and uncreative conservative worldview is actually drastically out of step with both true Americanism and true Christianity. Yet, conservatives have convinced themselves they are the “real” Americans, as well as the “real” Christians. Their self delusion knows no bottom.
Conservatives demand the “liberty” to curtail everyone else’s. Standing in the way — on an ever increasing number of issues where conservatives are attempting to conserve their advantage — are the liberals. Today’s conservatives — just like their ideological brethren, the Tories during the Revolution and the Southerners of the Civil War and the commie-witch-hunters of the 1950s— believe they are warriors in a “culture war” to the death. They are as blind to the humanity of anyone outside their own cult of domination as they are to the nobility and beauty of nature which they so often revel in abusing.
Conservatism is the Ideology of Selfishness, so it is perfectly fitting that their current avatar is the ultra-conservative Donald Trump… the very personification of ALL of the Seven Deadly Sins. This transparent charlatan, whom many conservatives actually believe has been sent by God, has them ginned up for action to don their warrior colors and get out there and conserve their own advantage, privilege and power. And they will believe, and they will conform, and they will seek to subjugate the “other”… because they are conservatives. And, because there are liberals… they will encounter resistance, which they will label the mortal enemy, while liberals view them as misguided, indoctrinated family, friends and countrymen.
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No Hate.
No Violence.
All Life is Sacred.
The Universe is Magnificent & Beautiful.
Love is the Way.
Copyright 2022, Rusty Reid
