Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
No, if you accept that conservatism is about reaction than about some core set of beliefs, then it's easy to see how conservatives can move away from some ideas and towards others. And there are Republicans and libertarians and various interest groups who are happy to get tax cuts with conservatives but who may not really be conservative.
Liberalism is defined by some core beliefs, and a desire to change society in certain ways. (Conservatism is defined at its core by a reaction to liberalism.)
The core principle is triggering libs, to oversimplify it. More than anything else, what animates conservatism is sticking it to the left. Republican legislators passed tax cuts, but conservatives don't really care. Conservatives don't care about health-care policy, they care about trashing Obamacare. Who are the conservative intellectuals? Jordan Peterson?
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The idea that conservatism is solely defined as a reaction to liberalism (
i.e., sticking it to the libs) is the theory you are pushing. You keep offering it up as fact to make your point on your theory. It's a very strange way of debating.
I think most people on this board could come up with what they believe conservatism is--that core set of ideals you say doesn't exist. The question, as I see it, is: Are people who still hold at least some of these conservative ideals so willing to compromise on all the others that the label, "conservative," no longer has any meaning. Again, if that's where you are, I can agree.
In any case, I suppose it's semantics in any case and I don't really care. Republicans, conservatives, doesn't matter. They're almost all trash.
TM
