I divorced the Republican party several years ago even before January 6th. I haven’t looked back. I think what conservatives are doing and have been doing is toxic to democracy and democratic principles. Thank you so much for this excellent piece!
This is an excellent piece that thoroughly describes how the fascists, er conservatives, over decades built the infrastructure that is steadily destroying everything that truly made America great. They must be so proud of their "accomplishment".
It's not like liberals were sitting on their hands through all of this. While the conservatives were doing these things, liberals got gay marriage rights, the ACA was passed, had the CFPB created. It has had leaders, Obama and Biden among them. Biden actually accomplished quite a lot. Conservatives did manage to actually pack the Supreme Court by refusing to play by the established rules. And now, "conservatives" are watching as an administration takes that playbook and runs amuck with it. Much of what is being "accomplished" would never have been considered "conservative". Unlike with Nixon, modern conservatives don't just ignore corruption, they seem to respect it. The current conservative movement is extremely broken and flawed.
This piece doesn’t explain how the movement conservatives were able to convince millions of people to get behind their ideas. Because without popular support, they would not have been able to implement their ideas. That’s why so many of us blame Reagan for getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine - and Clinton’s (yes, Clinton!) 1996 Telecommunications Act which allowed for consolidation of media power. Those gave rise to the right-wing propaganda machine, which enabled the brainwashing of so many Americans to, frankly, vote against their interests. And no matter how bad things get under Trump, I’m not sure it will change those people’s minds, as long as the right-wing propaganda machine finds a way to blame it on the Dems. I’m very pessimistic about America’s future.
Great analysis! Decent Americans should see it as a call to action rather than a requiem. One notable difference between the political left and the right is that the left largely organizes to empower people (abolition, civil rights, gender equity) while the right primarily organizes to consolidate power. We can see how self-defeating that latter approach can be. Generations of conservative plotting, and it culminates in Trump.
My father was true Lincoln republican. He taught me tolerance, kindness, respect for others who were held up as being “different “ frequently saying we had inherited genes from these “different “ peoples and that we are all of the same family. I cry what the rhino has become and will vote Dem no matter how flawed some of the members are because the RNC has been captured by MAGA, a fascist organization that seeks to inflict harm who is anyone female or brown.
This is absolutely a Must Read article. More importantly, we need a similar examination of the democratic vision and the the route we need to follow now in order to achieve that vision. There are a number of Substack leaders who could work together to accomplish that goal.
"The abolitionists lost... before slavery was abolished. ...women’s suffrage... persisting before the Nineteenth Amendment became law. The modern civil rights movement was built over generations... before Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965."
And today's conservatives want to destroy all of that. And should a Dem assume the presidency any time soon, I'm sure the unitary executive theory will suddenly become unconstitutional.
The role of religion, specifically Christianity, has played a huge role. America is torn between the conflicting visions of the Old and New Testaments. The former is generally doctrinaire and authoritarian, the latter more tolerant and inclusive. Faith is a powerful motivator, and when channelled toward strict interpretations, admits of little opposition. We have seen the rise of a sort of Christian jihadism that appeals to the more fanatical among us and is more defined by who to hate than who to love. Gentler Christian institutions could also have great power, as they did in the abolition and civil rights movements. And recently in the streets of Minneapolis.
Another factor, as old as human nature, is pure greed. The domination of politics by Big Money is a steamroller than can only be stopped by citizen outrage and involvement. Again, it has been rolled back from egregious excess in both the progressive era of the early 1900's and by the New Deal of the 1930's.
For some reason a small group of politicians currently in power desire to terminate Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms for the majority of the people; to halt the generosity of the Federal government towards tens of millions of Americans in every circle from National parks to health care to protection from national disasters; to ending the idea of free and fair elections for the benefit of the few. These are the people behind the scenes, the puppeteers pulling the strings to disadvantage the tens of millions of Americans for no plausible or acceptable reason. These are the people that must be stopped, must be incarcerated, if possible, before they ruin the reality as well as the work-in-progress that is the promise of the United States of America. Until these people are stopped, the very existence of the United States, as defined by the Constitution, will be a day-to-day, hour-by-hour prospect.
I'm reminded of the comment made by David Miles Hogg, who, as a teenager survived and witnessed the Parkland mass shooting and went on to be a gun control advocate, chased by Majorie Taylor Greene, and kicked out of the DNC. He reminded all that the Federalist Society started with young, out of law school, lawyers who set out to remake the nation. It took decades.
Mr. Hogg was clear: its going to take decades to turn the tide -- if we are as preserving, dedicated and as shrewd as all the people and forces that you cite.
The question, at this point is: can MAGA and the tide of open bigotry be turned around?
I divorced the Republican party several years ago even before January 6th. I haven’t looked back. I think what conservatives are doing and have been doing is toxic to democracy and democratic principles. Thank you so much for this excellent piece!
This is an excellent piece that thoroughly describes how the fascists, er conservatives, over decades built the infrastructure that is steadily destroying everything that truly made America great. They must be so proud of their "accomplishment".
I sure hope all Contrarians check out this piece.
One of the most interesting and well written articles I have read on The Contrarian since its inception.
Thanks.
It's not like liberals were sitting on their hands through all of this. While the conservatives were doing these things, liberals got gay marriage rights, the ACA was passed, had the CFPB created. It has had leaders, Obama and Biden among them. Biden actually accomplished quite a lot. Conservatives did manage to actually pack the Supreme Court by refusing to play by the established rules. And now, "conservatives" are watching as an administration takes that playbook and runs amuck with it. Much of what is being "accomplished" would never have been considered "conservative". Unlike with Nixon, modern conservatives don't just ignore corruption, they seem to respect it. The current conservative movement is extremely broken and flawed.
This piece doesn’t explain how the movement conservatives were able to convince millions of people to get behind their ideas. Because without popular support, they would not have been able to implement their ideas. That’s why so many of us blame Reagan for getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine - and Clinton’s (yes, Clinton!) 1996 Telecommunications Act which allowed for consolidation of media power. Those gave rise to the right-wing propaganda machine, which enabled the brainwashing of so many Americans to, frankly, vote against their interests. And no matter how bad things get under Trump, I’m not sure it will change those people’s minds, as long as the right-wing propaganda machine finds a way to blame it on the Dems. I’m very pessimistic about America’s future.
Great analysis! Decent Americans should see it as a call to action rather than a requiem. One notable difference between the political left and the right is that the left largely organizes to empower people (abolition, civil rights, gender equity) while the right primarily organizes to consolidate power. We can see how self-defeating that latter approach can be. Generations of conservative plotting, and it culminates in Trump.
My father was true Lincoln republican. He taught me tolerance, kindness, respect for others who were held up as being “different “ frequently saying we had inherited genes from these “different “ peoples and that we are all of the same family. I cry what the rhino has become and will vote Dem no matter how flawed some of the members are because the RNC has been captured by MAGA, a fascist organization that seeks to inflict harm who is anyone female or brown.
This is absolutely a Must Read article. More importantly, we need a similar examination of the democratic vision and the the route we need to follow now in order to achieve that vision. There are a number of Substack leaders who could work together to accomplish that goal.
"The abolitionists lost... before slavery was abolished. ...women’s suffrage... persisting before the Nineteenth Amendment became law. The modern civil rights movement was built over generations... before Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965."
And today's conservatives want to destroy all of that. And should a Dem assume the presidency any time soon, I'm sure the unitary executive theory will suddenly become unconstitutional.
We should never underestimate the deepseated distrust of non-whites by whites and how that gets used for political power.
hatred not distrust I fear
The role of religion, specifically Christianity, has played a huge role. America is torn between the conflicting visions of the Old and New Testaments. The former is generally doctrinaire and authoritarian, the latter more tolerant and inclusive. Faith is a powerful motivator, and when channelled toward strict interpretations, admits of little opposition. We have seen the rise of a sort of Christian jihadism that appeals to the more fanatical among us and is more defined by who to hate than who to love. Gentler Christian institutions could also have great power, as they did in the abolition and civil rights movements. And recently in the streets of Minneapolis.
Another factor, as old as human nature, is pure greed. The domination of politics by Big Money is a steamroller than can only be stopped by citizen outrage and involvement. Again, it has been rolled back from egregious excess in both the progressive era of the early 1900's and by the New Deal of the 1930's.
For some reason a small group of politicians currently in power desire to terminate Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms for the majority of the people; to halt the generosity of the Federal government towards tens of millions of Americans in every circle from National parks to health care to protection from national disasters; to ending the idea of free and fair elections for the benefit of the few. These are the people behind the scenes, the puppeteers pulling the strings to disadvantage the tens of millions of Americans for no plausible or acceptable reason. These are the people that must be stopped, must be incarcerated, if possible, before they ruin the reality as well as the work-in-progress that is the promise of the United States of America. Until these people are stopped, the very existence of the United States, as defined by the Constitution, will be a day-to-day, hour-by-hour prospect.
I'm reminded of the comment made by David Miles Hogg, who, as a teenager survived and witnessed the Parkland mass shooting and went on to be a gun control advocate, chased by Majorie Taylor Greene, and kicked out of the DNC. He reminded all that the Federalist Society started with young, out of law school, lawyers who set out to remake the nation. It took decades.
Mr. Hogg was clear: its going to take decades to turn the tide -- if we are as preserving, dedicated and as shrewd as all the people and forces that you cite.
The question, at this point is: can MAGA and the tide of open bigotry be turned around?