Here's my short take on the fundamental difference between modern conservatives and modern progressives: It's the numbers 99 and one, as in 99 percent and one percent. Allow me to elaborate:
Through most of the first decade of this century, Dick Cheney and his "vulcans" held to the idea of a "one percent doctrine." As outlined in his book by that name, Ron Suskind quoted Cheney's description of this "doctrine":
If there's a 1% chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al-Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response.
Arguably, conservatives have applied a large-scale version of the one percent doctrine to all policy issues. For instance, if there's a one percent chance that Barack Obama could enact a reform bill, that's regarded as a serious threat to Republicans and needs to be smacked down hard. And, if a proposal such as increasing taxes on the one percent of wealthiest Americans comes along, it's a non-starter that will be fought by conservatives with every means available.
Contrast that with progressives who are now rapidly creating a new political paradigm across this nation, just as Europeans and Mideast peoples did before them. But instead of one percent, this is a Ninety-Nine Percent Doctrine. Meaning: The occupiers and their supporters aim to represent 99 percent of Americans who are doing poorly if not horribly as a result of the 2008 economic meltdown, and they're getting more and more organized. Like a rolling stone, in fact.
Thus come the "99 percenters" occupying Wall Street and main streets across the nation.
And 99 versus one is an absolutely huge difference. After all, Gandhi accomplished much with much less. Conservatives and Republicans in particular are focused on their "base," which increasingly distills itself down to that one percent of the populace. Meanwhile, Democrats and especially progressives at large are more and more focusing on the remaining 99 percent.
The one percent may be insanely wealthy, hugely powerful and nearly immovable; however, the 99 percent are going to quickly become an irresistible force. In a class war that's heating up, this shouldn't even be close, political inertia notwithstanding.
Republicans nevertheless seem quite content to continue sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. If they persist, they'd better be prepared to step aside or get swept away by the hurricane forces of history. Their success in recent decades obscures the changes ahead. They are living in the past and living off the past. The loyal opposition already has them outnumbered and surrounded, and they don't even know it yet.
They will, though, and soon. Agents 99 are on the move.