Conservatives??? HAH!!! I Think NOT!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, guns, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, religion, Social commentary, voting rights

As he so often does, Robert Reich hits the nail spot on the head in his take on the term ‘conservative’ as it is used to describe Republicans.  Read on …

How to handle radical Republicans

Stop calling them conservative. And take steps to genuinely conserve America

Robert Reich

July 11

This morning, I heard a commentator allude to “Mitch McConnell and other conservative senators.” Yesterday, a news report described the upcoming Alaska Republican primary as pitting Trump’s “conservative wing against Murkowski’s more moderate base.” I keep seeing references to the “conservative majority” on the Supreme Court.

Can we get real? There is nothing conservative about these so-called “conservatives.” They don’t want to preserve or protect our governing institutions — the core idea of conservatism extending from Edmund Burke to William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater. They are radicals, intent on wrecking these institutions to impose their ideology on everyone else.

The Supreme Court’s Republican appointees have all but obliterated stare decisis — the conservative principle that the Court must follow its precedents and not change or reverse them unless clearly necessary, and with near unanimity. Recent decisions reversing Roe v. Wade, elevating religious expression over the Constitution’s bar on established religion, questioning Congress’s ability to delegate rule making to the executive branch, and barring states from regulating handguns, all call into question the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as an institution.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, are abusing the filibuster and undermining the legitimacy of the Senate.

Throughout much of the 20th century, filibusters remained rare. But after Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office in 2009, McConnell and his Republican senate minority blocked virtually every significant piece of legislation. Between 2010 and 2020, there were as many cloture motions as during the entire 60-year period from 1947 to 2006. Now McConnell and his Republicans are stopping almost everything in its tracks. Just 41 Senate Republicans, representing only 21 percent of the country, are blocking laws supported by the vast majority of Americans.

At the same time, Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress and in the states have upended the centerpiece of American democracy, the peaceful transition of power, and undermined the legitimacy of our elections.

They continue to assert without any basis in fact that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump encouraged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and threatened the life of the Vice President. Republican state legislatures are enacting legislation to suppress votes and take over election machinery.

Make no mistake: Republican appointees to the Supreme Court, most Republicans in Congress, and Trump Republican lawmakers across America are not conservative. They are radicals. They have embarked on a radical agenda of repudiating our governing institutions and taking over American democracy.

It is time to stop using the term “conservative” to describe them and their agenda.

And it is time it to fight back: Enlarge the size of the Supreme Court and limit the terms of justices. Abolish the filibuster and then pass laws most Americans want — protecting voting rights and reproductive rights, and controlling guns. Criminally prosecute Trump and his insurgents.

These are conservative measures. They are necessary to conserve and protect our governing institutions from the radicals now bent on destroying them.

42 thoughts on “Conservatives??? HAH!!! I Think NOT!”

    • I can only speak for myself, of course, but in my view the definition of a conservative is one who holds to traditional values, who does not favour large government, and who holds with private ownership of the means of production.

      Liked by 1 person

          • You do realize that regulation is a “hidden” tax and promotes a large government?

            To what end do we need government “conserving” life? Hypothetically assume all guns have been banished from earth, do we believe homicide will end? What is the effect? What weapon will become choice? Cause must equal the effect.

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            • Well, you see, I believe that regulation, even as you call it a hidden tax, helps in more ways than one. Would you like to see minimum wage regulations scrapped, or perhaps equal opportunity in such things as employment, housing, education and more? And unless you deny the scientists who have long warned us of climate change, the results of which are painfully obvious this week, then surely you wouldn’t like to see the regulations on the automobile industry trashed, or the fossil fuel industries. Oh, and what about OSHA … health and safety regulations in the workplace? And this is only a few examples of why I support government regulations in many cases. Without government involvement, there would still be slavery, and women would still not have the right to vote.

              An additional reason I am for government regulating business is the corporate greed that is bad enough even WITH regulations of sorts, but would likely throw us all below the poverty line if there were no taxation, no regulation on corporations.

              Now, as for guns … no, humans will likely never stop killing one another altogether. However, I’m speaking right now only of the U.S. … we have a huge gun problem. There are more guns in this nation than people! No, people won’t stop killing, but frankly I’d rather face a person holding a knife or wielding his tire iron than one with a gun. Against any other weapon, I stand a chance. Such weapons as the AR-15 were NEVER intended for public use, but only for military purposes, and yet … how many mass shootings in the past year have been perpetrated by someone with one of these hideous weapons? Did you have a child in school in Uvalde, Texas? Or Parkland, Florida? Or Newtown, Connecticut? Perhaps if you did, you would think differently about guns and gun regulation. Were it up to me, I would ban guns altogether. Today’s gun culture is beyond insane.

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  2. Pingback: CONSERVATIVES ??? HAH !!! I THINK NOT ! |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

    • You give them too much credit, PT. Republicans don’t know the meaning of farce. To them it is “force” misspelled. They love to use force. Forceful Republicans Invoking Other Stupidities.

      Liked by 3 people

          • I am extremely partial to homemade Taco Salad, being from Texas—no surprise, right?—and we add fritos (the small ones) into our salad with all the other DEE-LICIOUS ingredients and toppings! Yum yummy in our tummies! 😋🤩

            But as for the/our “FRITOS” here and across the nation and inside D.C., I most definitely don’t get yummy feelings in my tummy. I actually get sick thinking and talking about them. 🤢 It used to not be that way 15-25 years ago… when most all of them were reasonable, moderate, sane, and civil. It’s not that way anymore, is it? 😟

            Liked by 1 person

            • I wss talking about your version of FRITOS. Never heard them called that before. Texas is a loooong way from High Level, Alberta — st least in distance. A lot of our red-necks, and there are lots of them, would love if Abetta could get away with making laws like those in Texas. And ee aren’t even in a Bible-Belt.

              Liked by 2 people

    • Hmmmm … I rather like that … CINO. In Spanish, that would be pronounced see-no, as in “See no evil …” Rather apt. But no, not FRITOS, for though I do see the reference and yes, it makes sense, I like Fritos the corn chip, and calling them that would ruin the snack for me! 😋

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  4. Another reason to create, build, and sustain a new party. Maybe not right now, but the Republican Party is going to collapse on itself (if it foes not gain authorian control of the nation). The USA needs to prevent a political vacuum.

    Liked by 4 people

    • I fully agree, but it isn’t up to me. It’s up to those who are or were in the Republican Party and no longer like the direction it is taking. My biggest fear is that they will succeed in gaining authoritarian control … that is why the Democrats really must find their voices, their fire, their determination, their unity.

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  5. Jill, Mitch McConnell won’t go to the bathroom without thinking of the political ramifications of it. I have seen this person flip-flop on issues more than a morning griddle of IHOP pancakes, dependent on whether his party is in the majority or minority. And, anytime an elected official deviates from process like McConnell did when he refused to vet Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court, take it to the bank it is political. So, anything McConnell says should be interrogated and all of his IHOPping needs to be pointed out.

    There are very few moderate conservatives anymore, in my view. They have left the party. The norm has moved to the right and looks less like a normal curve and more like a right weighted curve. Liz Cheney is a courageous, but she is no moderate. Keith

    Liked by 4 people

    • You do have a way of evoking images, my friend! First, I’m picturing McConnell in the men’s room debating which stall would be the most politically fortuitous. And then … I’m seeing IHOP pancakes … and my mouth is watering …

      But, joking aside, you’re so right. Everything is political, every decision is made with consideration of that person’s own political career in mind, NOT what is in the best interest of the nation and its people. Mitch McConnell did a huge disservice to this country when he refused to even discuss Merrick Garland’s nomination, and for that I will never forgive him. And then he turned around and practically shoved Barrett’s confirmation through in record time. And now, look where we are, thanks to Mitchie.

      I agree … there are few moderate conservatives … those who do remain are likely to be gone with this upcoming election, for they don’t have the backing of their party. And I agree about Cheney … I’ve never agreed with her policies, but today I applaud her, for it took great courage to do what she is doing.

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  7. There are a lot of words I could use to describe these career politicians but conservative isn’t one of them. Radical B*******s (I try not to use words like that one) would be one of them if I used that kind of language, but I try very hard to NOT use all or any of the w0rds I’m thinking of right now. LIMIT THE NUMBER OF TERMS for all elected officials.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Ha ha … I notice my vocabulary has become much more … um … shall we say colourful … in the past 6 years or so! The ‘f-word’ flies out of my mouth at least 20 times a day now! I fully agree about term limits. Chuck Grassley, who is running again at age 88, has been in the Senate since 1981 … more than 40 years! And why the heck would he want to run again at this stage in his life? He’ll be 95 when his next term is up if he wins this time!

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      • He wants to run again for the money! At one time in our history as a country we had mostly honest politicians who would do the job and then go home where they belonged, working at a real job for a wage. Now we have career politicians who live in D,C. and don’t have a real job, just meet in secret to vote themselves raises that they steal from other accounts and don’t even answer mail from the people who put them there in the first place. Speaking of Twitchy Mitchy here who has never been available when i try to call and who never answers emails or letters. And he will never stop running no matter what he says because he’s in a great position to maneuver the way everything is done. I can’t believe I once voted for him, but that was when he first ran as a Democrat and for the State office — Governor, I think but it was back when Moses was a kid and my memory is cloudy on that one. He lied about remaining in office for the entire length of his office, ditching the state job by running for his present and forever office. I even shook his hand back then and still feel the slime on mine! As for the language thing I lose my religion so many times every day I feel like I should go to confession every couple of hours. I’m trying to stop but I would have to stop thinking and become totally brain dead to do that and I’m still running on that half of my remaining brain cell and it seems to be working overtime when it comes to anything political. Mea culpa!

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  8. The corruption always starts, way up at the top, and, since these, party leaders are, without the right values, how can the public, expect the candidates running for office to be with, the moral responsibilities that will, help s country, prosper?

    Liked by 4 people

    • That’s a very good question, my friend … how, indeed? Sigh. We the People seem to not be a very good judge of character when it comes to choosing the people we expect to safeguard our nation. Either that, or worse … maybe half the people actually welcome the chaos, would applaud an authoritarian government.

      Liked by 2 people

  9. All things that have been suggested to stop their gallop that I thought would have ben actioned by now .If it’s left too long it may be a case of fighting a majority of Republicans an be unable to make the necessary changes.

    Liked by 6 people

    • Sigh. You are quite right … if it’s left past the November elections, it may well be too late. Although, the outlook for Democrats in November has improved and will hopefully continue to improve. Still, you’re right … let’s cut off the offending cancer and move forward instead of stagnating as the nation seems to be.
      Cwtch

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