#american conservatism

[khaleesiofthegreatdairystate]

No, this shit is not new by any means. It's at least as old as 1904. If anyone is interested in reading an old, not so dusty book about this, I recommend The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. It's a sociology book, but it's not that difficult to get through. Easier than Marx, anyway. Interestingly enough, Max Weber's mom was a Calvinist.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jason Wilson at The Guardian:

In a December 2023 speech, JD Vance defended a notorious white nationalist convicted over 2016 election disinformation, canvassed the possibility of breaking up tech companies, attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts and talked about a social media “censorship regime” that “came from the deep state on some level”.

The senator’s speech was given at the launch of a “counterrevolutionary” book – praised by the now Republican vice-presidential candidate as “great” – which was edited and mostly written by employees of the far-right Claremont Institute. In the book, Up from Conservatism, the authors advocate for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act, for politicians to conduct “deep investigations into what the gay lifestyle actually does to people”, that college and childcare be defunded and that rightwing governments “promote male-dominated industries” in order to discourage female participation in the workplace. Vance’s endorsement of the book may raise further questions about his extremism, and that of his networks. The Guardian emailed Vance’s Senate staff and the Trump and Vance campaign with detailed questions about his appearance at the launch, but received no response.

‘Congratulations on such a great book’

Vance’s speech was given in the Capitol visitor center in Washington DC last 11 December, according to a version of C-Span’s subsequent broadcast of the event that is preserved at the Internet Archive. The occasion was the launch of Up from Conservatism, an essay collection edited by Arthur Milikh, the executive director of the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. In his introductory remarks on the day, Milikh said the book “maps out the right’s errors over the last generation … on immigration, on universities, on the administrative state”.

The book, however, appears more directed towards supplanting an old right – seen as too accommodating – with a “new right” focused on destroying its perceived enemies on the left.

In the book’s introduction, Milikh writes: “The New Right recognizes the Left as an enemy, not merely an opposing movement, because the Left today promotes a tyrannical conception of justice that is irreconcilable with the American idea of justice … the New Right is a counterrevolutionary and restorative force.” Also in that piece, Milikh offers a vision of the new right’s triumph, which has an authoritarian ring: “We like to say that one must learn to govern, but a truer expression is that one must learn to rule.” In his speech, Vance first offered “congratulations on such a great book, and thanks for getting such a good crew together”, and then warmed to themes similar to Milikh’s. “Republicans, conservatives, we’re still terrified of wielding power, of actually doing the job that the people sent us here to do,” Vance said, later adding: “Isn’t it just common sense that when we’re given power, we should actually do something with it?”

Brad Onishi, author of Preparing for War, a critical account of Christian nationalism and the host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast, said: “Vance, many Claremont people, including some folks in this volume, and especially the ‘post-liberal’ conservative Catholics that he hangs out with, have advocated for a form of big government that will wield its power in order to set the country right.” He added: “And you may think, well, OK, that doesn’t sound so bad. But here the common good is rooting out queer people, making sure non-Christians don’t immigrate to the country and outlawing things like pornography that are currently a matter of personal choice. “You end up with this conservatism that promotes an invasive government conservatism rather than a small government.”

[...]

‘Free our minds … from the fear of being called racists’

In the book, commended by Vance, a series of authors take reactionary – or “counterrevolutionary” – positions on a number of social and economic issues. In one chapter, John Fonte writes of disrupting narratives of civil rights progress: “The great meaning of America, we are told, comes from liberating so-called oppressed groups and taming the power of privileged groups. Thus, our history is one of liberation: first of Blacks, then of women, then of gays, and now of the transgendered.” Fonte retorts: “Not only is this narrative false; it will take us further down the path of national self-destruction … On the questions of slavery, American Indians, and racial discrimination, the progressive narrative is not a historically accurate project designed to address past wrongs, but a weaponized movement to deconstruct and replace American civilization.”

Like other authors in the collection, Fonte offers policy recommendations. He proposes heavy-handed federal intervention into education: “[T]he US Congress should prohibit any federal funds in education to support projects … that promote DEI (“diversity, equity and inclusion”) and divisive concepts such as the idea that America is ‘systemically racist.’” In his chapter, David Azerrad tells readers: “We need to free our minds once and for all from the fear of being called racists.” The assistant professor and research fellow at rightwing Hillsdale College, and former Heritage Foundation director and Claremont Institute fellow, also claims that conservatives have been too conciliatory on race: “For too many conservatives, the goal is to outdo progressives in displays of compassion for blacks … yet blacks continue to vote monolithically for the Democratic Party and progressives have only ramped up their hysterical accusations of racism.”

Azerrad continues with white nationalist talking points on race, crime and IQ, writing: “It is not racist to notice that blacks commit the majority of violent crimes in America, no more than it is to incarcerate convicted black criminals … There is no reason to expect equal outcomes between the races … In some elite and highly technical sectors in which there are almost no qualified blacks, color-blindness will mean no blacks.” Elsewhere, Azerrad writes: “[C]onservatives will need to root out from their souls the pathological pity for blacks, masquerading as compassion, that is the norm in contemporary America … This is most obvious in the widespread embrace of affirmative action (the lowering of standards to advance blacks) and the general reluctance to speak certain blunt but necessary truths about the pathologies plaguing black America – in particular, violent crime, fatherlessness, low academic achievement, nihilistic alienation, and the cult of victimhood.”

[...]

‘Do not subsidize childcare’

Helen Andrews, meanwhile, offers “three things we could do right now that would put a big dent in the multiplying lies that have come from feminists for the last forty years about women and careers”. Her first proposal is to “stop subsidizing college so much”, since, according to Andrews, in the 22-29 age group, “there are four women with college degrees … for every three men. That is going to lead to a lot of women with college degrees who do not end up getting married.” “Second,” Andrews continues, “the Right can do more to promote male-dominated industries. Reviving American manufacturing and cracking down on China’s unfair trade practices isn’t just an economic and national security issue; it’s a gender issue.” Her third proposal is “do not subsidize childcare” – since the fact that “many working moms are struggling” with childcare costs “might actually be good information the economy is trying to tell you”. Andrews is the print editor of the paleoconservative magazine the American Conservative and has previously written sympathetically about white supremacist minority regimes in Rhodesia – renamed Zimbabwe after white rule ended – and South Africa.

Scott Yenor claims in his chapter that before the 1960s, America lived under a “Straight Constitution, which honored enduring, monogamous, man-woman, and hence procreative marriage. It also stigmatized alternatives”. Yenor is a political science professor at Boise State University and a fellow at the Claremont Institute. He then claims: “We currently live under the Queer Constitution”, which “honors all manner of sex”, and under which “laws restricting contraception, sodomy, and fornication are, by its lights, unconstitutional”. Yenor claims: “These changes in law are but the first part of an effort to normalize and then celebrate premarital sex, recreational sex, men who have sex with men, childhood immodesty, masturbation, lesbianism, and all conceptions of transgenderism.”

Yenor says the state should intervene in citizens’ sex lives: “In the states, new obscenity laws for a more obscene world should be adopted. Pornography companies and websites should be investigated for their myriad public ills like sex trafficking, addictions, and ruined lives. The justice of anti-discrimination must be revisited.” In a separate essay co-written with Milikh, the editor, Yenor advocates in effect destroying the current education system and starting again. The essay includes a recommendation for school curriculums: “Students could start building obstacle courses at an early age, learning how to construct a wall and how to adapt the wall for climbing … Students could learn to build and shoot guns as part of a normal course of action in schools and learn how to grow crops and prepare them for meals.”

The Guardian reports that Trump VP pick and Ohio Senator JD Vance promoted far-right extremist views from Arthur Milkh’s Up From Conservatism essay book.

[aberration13]

I don't think enough people are paying attention to project 2025. I know it's a big document and I don't really expect the average person to read it all or anything like that but being aware of it and knowing some of the key plans/goals it describes is probably pretty useful.

Like you know how in movies the evil villain goes on a monologue describing their whole evil plan and you think "they just revealed everything, If that were me I would know exactly how to stop them now"

This is that. Conservatives just outlined their whole evil plan in detail down to the who, what, when, where, how, and why's of the things they intend to do if they take the presidency again, the thing is 900 pages long and basically anything you might want to know or plan countermeasures for is in there.

[cimerran-714]

I figured that it would be helpful to call out ten of the most common pro-choice arguments that you might notice online. I'll preface it by saying that I am not a philosopher (or at least not yet), but I am a person with common sense, and you can see through these "arguments" if you have two brain-cells left.

Also, I understand that there are good PC arguments out there (although they are of course not successful, for a strong argument doesn't necessarily have to succeed). I am only arguing some of the most insane and ridiculous ones you'd spot.

If you want to go through some really good claims made by pro-choice/pro-abortion advocates, I'd recommend David Boonin's 'A Defense of Abortion'. It'd help you instead of you having to regurgitate whatever you are spoon-fed by the leftist cult. Go check out that book even if you're pro-life, because it's a great one.

Let's get started, shall we?

A human embryo/fetus is not human:

Yes, it's both human and alive. Biologists agree with this (including pro-choice biologists), and even pro-choice philosophers acknowledge this. This is basic empirical reality. And you only have to open an embryology textbook to know how wrong you are. Also, these people can never explain what species the fetus belongs to if not "Homo Sapiens".

2. It's just a "clump of cells".

All of us are made up of cells. Some are "clumpier" than others. And plus, it's not merely a clump of cells: the embryo is a human organism in its earlier stages of development, and very soon is also differentiated as it grows. That's like saying that it's okay to destroy a car because it's just "a bunch of metal thrown together".

3. It's not a person/sentient, yadda yadda:

Irrelevant and it's the same logic that slave-owners used to own people. Human rights is species-based, and the embryo/fetus is human. That's all that matters. These people love to make up ridiculous, arbitrary criteria to justify their bigotry.

4. You cannot force people to donate their organs...

Not the same thing at all. You cannot be forced to save people, but that doesn't mean you can actively kill them. This is the difference between killing someone and letting them die. There is a significant moral difference between deliberately pushing someone off a cliff and not saving someone who's hanging off a branch at a cliff. Abortion is the former.

5. Women would die...

All states have life-threat exceptions built into it, so this is just deflection. And yes, there are doctors who refuse to perform entirely legal abortions, but that is their fault. It IS legal. They're just cowards, and you can't blame the law for this because they already make this exception.

6. You cannot force your views onto others:

If you support democracy (and, you know, voting) you're forcing your views onto others. That's how law works.

7. The child would grow up in poverty, yadda yadda yadda...:

We don't kill born children because of these reasons, so it's a ridiculous claim. You don't solve poverty by killing the poor.

8. They are just pro-birth:

Statistics show that Republicans donate more to charity than Democrats. Also, just because they don't agree with your method of helping people doesn't mean that they don't care about born people. You see, it's like saying "A fire-fighter rescued someone from a fire, but they don't want to pay out of their pockets to look after them throughout their lives. They don't actually care!"

9. Showing pics of fetuses belonging to other species as a gotcha:

Yes, mammals of different species look the same in their earlier stages, but that doesn't mean there isn't a difference between them. This is, once again, bigoted slaver logic (to want to kill people based on their looks).

10. Men cannot have a say because:

As men are directly affected by this, they absolutely have a say. They are fathers too, and remember that they're the ones who have to pay child support.

There you go. I am not expecting you to be pro-life yet if you are not, but I hope that I have cleared your head up somewhat.

[girl-evolved]

this blogger hit the nail on the head. so much of conservative propagandizing is based on applying individual standards to an entire collective.

they try to justify their racism by saying "if one person from a minority group is okay with our bigoted behavior, then all of them should be". it's exactly the same as another idea they perpetuate- "i was able to pick myself up by my bootstraps, so everyone else should be able to do the same thing." in both cases, they're applying the circumstances of an individual-typically, but not always, themselves or someone in their inner circle- and using them as an excuse to not help anyone else, even if that person received the very help they do not want to provide to others in turn. there is no conversation about what privileges that person might have had, or of any luck they ran into- just an application of standards for one person applied to all, regardless of who they are or what their experiences are.

(also, i highly reccomend this episode of behind the bastards. i learned so much about clarence thomas, and by extension conservative judicial thought in the present day, because of this podcast. the full clarence thomas series is over four hours long, which is typically about three hours and fifty-eight minutes more time than i want to spend thinking about clarence thomas, but it's worth it, i promise.)

If you wanna know why Clarence Thomas' place in the Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action is especially fucked up, aside from the obvious, peep Behind The Bastards' series on his life.

I also forget who mentioned it on Twitter, but I think one very slight silver lining is that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissent, and her place on the bench in general is significant for this reason: Up until now, the Justices and white people in the legislature could use Thomas' opinions as a blanket extension of black acceptance. "Well, our black person agrees with us, therefore no black person has any justifiable ground to take exception with our rulings." Now, with Justice Jackson there, it's proof--in the procedure and language of the court--that Thomas does not represent America's black perspective or experience.

The further irony being, of course, that Thomas' origins are at least somewhat familiar to many black folks in the country. He just decided to take refuge in the embrace of White Supremacy in response rather than offering a helping hand to those less fortunate/lucky.

[queerism1969]

[sophieinwonderland]

@ sweethousewife "such BS democrats don’t ever want a republican in office ever, to the point they scream and cry accusations that to me isn’t democracy "

That's Trump and the republican party, not democrats. Trump has said quite a few times that he wants to get rid of his political opponents, and he has also tried to manipulate the election results both directly (asking for someone to "find 11780 votes", i.e. the Trump-Raffensperger phone call) and indirectly (create a conspiracy theory about voter fraud). I have yet to see the same level of "scream and cry accusations" from democrats.

"also I have links showing how much the left has lied and taken ballots from 2020 in Az and Pa."

Provide the links. If you don't, it just sounds like another conspiracy theory created and perpetuated by Trump and his supporters.

"if you wanted democracy you’d of been supportive of what happened to roe v wade because it alllowed the citizens to vote on it WHERE they live instead of the exactly opposite would of been to keep it national and federal."

Literally nobody is talking about democracy in regards to roe v wade. They talk about freedom. Taking away someone's rights is inherently anti-freedom.

All of this!

Adding too that there have been multiple investigations conducted by Republicans and none could find real evidence of voter fraud.

And going further on the anti-freedom point, this also pretty much sums up why Democrats might not ever want a Republican in office.

Because there is some truth that if you campaign on taking away people's freedom, a lot of the people whose freedom you're directly threatening to steal won't want you governing them.

It's nice that @sweethousewife gets to run a blog dedicated to being a "trad wife" that centers her identity around her marriage. But since she's been married over 11 years, we should note that when she first married, queer people weren't provided that same right. And it was largely because of Republican opposition to allowing that.

As of 2024, a majority of Republicans still don't support gay marriage.

And most demographics won't want people in office who are actively trying to deprive them of their freedoms.

Importantly though, not wanting people who are trying to take away your rights in office isn't anti-democracy, even if the people are Democratically elected. Anti-Democracy is when you lead a violent attack against the Capitol while calling to hang the Vice President for certifying the Democratically elected leader.

[netscapenavigator-official]

You gotta give conservatives credit, where credit it due:

The pregnancy-based, fearmongering, abstinence-only, sex ed I was put through in primary school sure did work. I'm now cruising through adulthood, and I have zero desire to have children ever.

Oh, and I also fuck men, now, just to make extra sure it doesn't happen. So...... congrats. This is the future you all sowed, and so you must reap it.

[mrjinx87]

A question I ask myself all the time

[probablyasocialecologist]

A link to an unsecured Google Drive published on the group’s website pointed users last week to a large cache of sensitive documents, including financial and tax records, membership rolls, and email exchanges spanning over a decade. The more than 10,000 documents lay bare the outsize influence of a small conservative organization working to lend a veneer of medical science to evangelical beliefs on parenting, sex, procreation, and gender.

The American College of Pediatricians, which has fought to deprive gay couples of their parental rights and encouraged public schools to treat LGBTQ youth as if they were mentally ill, is one of a handful of conservative think tanks leading the charge against abortion in the United States. A federal lawsuit filed by the College and its partners against the US Food and Drug Administration seeks to limit nationwide access to what is today the most common form of abortion. The case is now on a trajectory for the US Supreme Court, which not even a year ago declared abortion the purview of America’s elected state representatives. 

The leaked records, first reported by WIRED, offer an unprecedented look at the groups and personnel central to that campaign. They also describe an organization that has benefited greatly by exaggerating its own power, even as it has struggled quietly for two decades to grow in size and gain respect. The records show how the College, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes as a hate group, managed to introduce fringe beliefs into the mainstream simply by being, as the founder of Fox News once put it, “the loudest voice in the room.” 

[adelphiaxo]

yall, we need to talk about the heritage foundation and its project 2025.

the heritage foundation is dangerous, and is going to have significant impact on the government. it's a long term initiative to make the us as conservative as possible, aka make america a fascist state. they have a policy agenda that would help their conservative beliefs.

what they are trying to do is simply minimizing the people in the government administration to mainly conservatives and right winged activists. this way, the people who are in power will enforce laws that reflect conservative principles, which include limited individual liberty, free markets, and a strong national defense. it also involves training and recruiting conservative activists to work in the government.

2025 is coming in two years, and it is already becoming a threat to basic human rights and the american government. the project is based on a narrow ideological view of the world, and it does not take into account the needs of all americans.

if you read till the end, please, reblog this post, like, and/or spread the word.

thank you all <3, adelphi signing out

here is the website linked to project 2025, and their 180 day playbook: https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025 https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

[calamitys-child]

SLAUGHTERED LAMB // BEWARE THE MOON

He/Him

ID in alt

[madinscurianmermaid]

(content warning: outdated terms, use of the term "white trash")

I did some really interesting research on the origin and the history of the term white trash. I've been aware of the term for years now though initially I thought that this word was a recently coined word and had emerged in the '50s and '60s or something. But come to find out, the term white trash actually stems as far back as the 1800s and was used to refer to poor, working class Irish, Scottish and German immigrants that immigrated to the United States in search for work and faced a lot of classism, casteism, discrimination and xenophobia from white rich upper class bourgeoisie American elites. This was identified as an epidemic by African American abolitionists and civil rights activists and this isn't surprising considering what we as black people have had to go through and still go through in this country, so obviously there's also been a deep solidarity there (and considering what British colonialism's done to both Africans/African Americans and the Irish and how British colonialism was the catalyst for upper class white supremacy, casteism, classism and xenophobia that afflicted America and the rest of the world, it makes sense). Also, many of white upper class bourgeoisie Americans that were also slave owners would weaponize and exploit enslaved black people they had working for them as pawns to spy on, scrutinize, criticize and look down upon the "poor, bad, white trash whites" as the ultimate agenda for upper class white supremacists to make themselves and their concept of aspirational whiteness look better, and while manipulatively brainwashing and gaslighting enslaved black folks into developing a classism and racism fueled stockholm syndrome attachment to their slave owners in the process.

(I'll just put a pin on this for later. 📌)

Now fast forward centuries later with the rise in right wing conservative MAGA extremism and Donald Trump, and upper class right wing white supremacists are pandering to that very demographic of middle class, middle working class, lower class, lower working class and poor white Americans (y'know, the very people and demographic that upper class white elites would call white trash!) by constantly promising social, financial and economic change and improvement. And that very demographic of people, being desperate for change and having also had fatigue and disillusionment with white liberals and white liberalism's empty promises of democracy and socio-economic improvement that didn't come to fruition along with bad experiences of white liberal classism, take the bait and switch over to becoming full on pawns for upper class right wing conservative white supremacists and their propaganda, and that in turn further coming with a Faustian exchange for being pitted against people of color and enabling/fueling the agenda of racism and white supremacy. And any part of middle class, middle working class, lower class, lower working class and poor white American demographic that sees right through all of this (both in terms of the ultimate agenda of racism and white supremacy and patronizing, hypocritical and backhanded classist pandering for ulterior motives) and refuses to go along with it and even calls it out and resists and stands to fight against it, they become public enemy #1 in the eyes of upper class right wing conservative white supremacists, whose convenient masks then fall off and they decide to remind this demographic how they really feel about them and smear and attack their character. And meanwhile, any Black, Brown, Native and Indigenous individuals of color (many of whom have also had fatigue and disillusionment with white liberalism and exhaustion with white liberal racism, classism and white saviorism) that decide to feed into, go along with and promote right wing conservative extremist propaganda are people whom upper class right wing conservative white supremacists use as pawns to police, scrutinize, criticize and look down upon "poor, bad, trashy, woke, race traitor" whites in order for upper class right wing conservative white supremacists and their concept of aspirational whiteness look better while manipulatively brainwashing and gaslighting BIPOC into developing a classism and racism fueled stockholm syndrome attachment to their political and social slave owners as well as hypocritically reinforcing the very same tactics of weaponized political identity politics, victimhood, performative pandering, identity politics and virtue signaling that right wing conservatives love to constantly accuse liberals of doing even though conservatives do that just as much. Does all this sound familiar? 📌

History repeats itself, and nobody wins.

And for me, learning all of this was insightful and radically eye opening for me as a woman of color (WOC), because even though I kept in my mindset the reality that anybody can be guilty of displaying racism and anybody can be a victim of racism, this particular issue was an eye opener because it shows that just as Black, Brown, Native and Indigenous culture, history, traditions, etc. is complex and layered and folks of these communities face marginalization, whiteness in this particular context can be complex and layered with its own history of marginalization too.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of conservatives or liberals. Granted, I have a deeper anger, disgust, exhaustion and distrust towards the conservative party and conservatism due to my decades long experiences of being bombarded with and exposed to right wing conservative and right leaning centrist propaganda and talking points along with the gaslighting, racism, antiblackness, xenophobia, sexism, misogyny, antisemitism, reverse psychology, manipulation, intellectual dishonesty and mental gymnastics and overall mentally, emotionally, verbally, psychologically and socially abusive, messed up, extreme and cultish behavior that comes with it, though I have dislike for both conservatism and liberalism. Because in regards to my deep dive into and unpacking the white trash trope and its roots in the perpetrating of casteism, classism and white supremacy, both conservatives and liberals have played a part in racist, casteist, classist and ignorant attitudes and mentalities in general but especially in regards to the mentality of looking down on poor, lower class white Americans as "white trash":

Donald Trump supporting MAGA/GOP conservatives, right leaning centrists and Republicans display this classist attitude towards what they see as the "poor, bad, woke, race traitor" whites that don't agree with or go along with their upper class racist, white supremacist extremism.

Elitist liberals and Democrats also display this classist attitude towards poor lower class white Americans who support Donald Trump and MAGA/GOP and weaponize their socio-economic backgrounds instead of just holding them accountable for their fascist actions, behavior, mindset and mentalities--and this being hypocritical considering that liberals love presenting themselves as progressive.

And I find it hilarious how people have no problem with me saying I don't like liberals but the moment I make it clear that I also don't like conservatives either, then all of a sudden it's a problem; when everything I mentioned is just a prime example of how both political parties are cults working to either placate or outright serve the establishment and are complicit and guilty in displaying these hateful attitudes, just in different nuanced ways.

Thus, all the more reason why the current American western political party that's currently in place now--Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives--need to be eradicated and abolished. It's time for it to end.

[queerism1969]

[shield-and-saber]

me reading path of deceit: hey the path kind of reminds me of evangelical pray the gay away movements, i wonder if that was intentional

me reading path of vengeance: oh

[sugas6thtooth]

This is relatively long (around 10 minutes) but I feel i must share this because it's a great starting point for everyone to understand the current political climate in the united states.

- If you call yourself a leftist, watch this.

- If you call yourself a conservative, watch this.

- If you call yourself a libertarian, watch this.

- If you don't care about politics, suck it up and watch this.

Everyone who finds themselves to live on the same soil that once belonged to the native americans who were so cruelly wiped by colonial forces, watch this.

After you watch this, I am asking you to share. Visit this guy's account on tiktok (@watchfulcoyote).

Don't let this be "just another one of those obnoxiously long political tiktok videos." Let this open your mind into something worth exploring.

Anyways, may all colonial and imperialist nations fall and may all their leaders burn in the pits of hell.

Free the Middle East, Free Africa, Free the Oppressed Peoples of the world.

🍉