If there is one thing I’ve seen about Republicans and conservatives is that conservatism/Republicanism can never fail, only people can fail conservatism. It’s always that it wasn’t implemented HARD enough. Or those damn liberals fucked it up somehow, etc…they are even more afield than old school Marxists when it comes to being steeped in a completely ridiculous narrative about economics. Hilariously, so many of the cons think it is THEY who are the hard-nosed realists… 🤣
True, but sadly not unique to conservatism. It’s a human condition, lots of psychology involved with self-identity and worldview. See “communism just hasn’t been actually implemented properly yet, and the Soviet Union and China were/are actually capitalists pretending to be socialists/communists” for examples on the “opposing” spectrum.
Absolutely, that’s why I mention the old school Marxists. :) I have to admit the comparison is not one I’ve come up with; I’m pretty sure I heard driftglass (of the Professional Left Podcast) reference it several times…
Good point out, and I should have said not unique to either conservatism or hard leftism there. The “extremities” of the spectrum really highlight it obviously, but I think almost everyone is guilty of and/or capable of the same rationalizing over anything that forms a part of core identity, consciously or not. The stakes are just higher when it comes to politics than something like an odd food preference, and thus get stronger reactions both from external observers and the person holding that viewpoint. I try to apply a “never attribute to malice that which can be explained by something else (I know incompetence usually goes here but in this context comes off maliciously)” for most people. Everyone is the hero of their own story, yada yada.
I fall into the same trap advocating for left leaning libertarianism never being implemented with the correct mix of government guardrails (both from and against the government), and it will be funny when we all surprised Pikachu face when it turns out 500 years from now it was the Anarcho-syndicalists who were right all along ala South Park Mormonism.
Also I haven’t heard the Professional Left Podcast before but I’m definitely going to check it out, thank you for mentioning it.
They’ll keep saying it’s still a good idea butt just barely executed for years. That’s what happened with Brexit in the UK.
If there is one thing I’ve seen about Republicans and conservatives is that conservatism/Republicanism can never fail, only people can fail conservatism. It’s always that it wasn’t implemented HARD enough. Or those damn liberals fucked it up somehow, etc…they are even more afield than old school Marxists when it comes to being steeped in a completely ridiculous narrative about economics. Hilariously, so many of the cons think it is THEY who are the hard-nosed realists… 🤣
True, but sadly not unique to conservatism. It’s a human condition, lots of psychology involved with self-identity and worldview. See “communism just hasn’t been actually implemented properly yet, and the Soviet Union and China were/are actually capitalists pretending to be socialists/communists” for examples on the “opposing” spectrum.
Absolutely, that’s why I mention the old school Marxists. :) I have to admit the comparison is not one I’ve come up with; I’m pretty sure I heard driftglass (of the Professional Left Podcast) reference it several times…
Good point out, and I should have said not unique to either conservatism or hard leftism there. The “extremities” of the spectrum really highlight it obviously, but I think almost everyone is guilty of and/or capable of the same rationalizing over anything that forms a part of core identity, consciously or not. The stakes are just higher when it comes to politics than something like an odd food preference, and thus get stronger reactions both from external observers and the person holding that viewpoint. I try to apply a “never attribute to malice that which can be explained by something else (I know incompetence usually goes here but in this context comes off maliciously)” for most people. Everyone is the hero of their own story, yada yada.
I fall into the same trap advocating for left leaning libertarianism never being implemented with the correct mix of government guardrails (both from and against the government), and it will be funny when we all surprised Pikachu face when it turns out 500 years from now it was the Anarcho-syndicalists who were right all along ala South Park Mormonism.
Also I haven’t heard the Professional Left Podcast before but I’m definitely going to check it out, thank you for mentioning it.
Yeah, it’s always ideology first. No argument or evidence can convince them otherwise.