In general, conservatism isn’t pragmatic because policy outcomes aren’t the goal. Indeed, they’re largely irrelevant. As we’ve seen in too many instances, Republicans aren’t principally concerned with solving problems; their goals are ideological.
In a case like education and lessons on sexual health, the left tends to look at this in terms of results: what works in preventing teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases? For the right, the question is philosophical: what’s consistent with their morality?
This doesn't mean that conservatives don't believe their own empirical arguments. Nor does it mean that ideologically driven thinking can't lead to empirically sound outcomes. In many cases--conservative opposition to tariffs, price controls, and farm subsidies--it does. But empirical reasoning simply does not drive their thinking. What appears to be conservative economic reasoning is actually a kind of backward reasoning. It begins with the conclusion and marches back through the premises.
[I]f authoritarian followers like the conclusion, the logic involved is pretty irrelevant. The reasoning should justify the conclusion, but for a lot of high RWAs, [Right-Wing Authoritarians] the conclusion validates the reasoning. Such is the basis of many a prejudice, and many a Big Lie that comes to be accepted.
To anyone who follows politics with any degree of interest or regularity, how many times have you read or listened to a policy proposal from someone on the far-Right when the evidence is clear that what’s being advocated or defended has no basis in fact or historical record? It’s almost routine, now.
Paul Ryan’s budget is only a more recent among many examples of the gymnastic contortions he and his peers resort to in order to defend an ideology which is both stranger than ever and increasingly distant from the longstanding principles which guided that movement for decades. It’s a sad commentary that you can count on a pair of hands the number of rational, reasonable, and intelligent conservatives gracing our national conversations [David Frum immediately comes to mind as one prime example].
That the Republican Party strategy is based first and almost always on preserving what now passes for their governing and cultural principles is admirable if message discipline above all else is most important. No matter which source you turn to, the limited government, God-fearing, gay-hating agenda is front and center.
If only they could devote one-tenth the energy and effort into considering reality and the outcomes likely to flow from their pursuit of ideals more divorced by the day from modern-day thinking. The struggle to preserve their quaint notions of an America that never was, for the benefit of a demographic block largely removed from the realities, inclinations, and preferences of the generations to follow is all fine and well, but at what cost?
Not just to them and their base, but to all of us? If we could ensure that right-wing orthodoxy would impact their base and only their base, then it would free up an incredible amount of time and effort for progressives to get on with the business of preparing ourselves for the 21st-Century and the fact-based challenges ahead (such as climate change and peak oil) which seems too difficult or fear-inducing for conservatives to consider.
Instead, they belittle and mislead all too often, wasting their own incredible energy and talents in the interests of maintaining a divisive society which aids them in preserving and protecting the interests of the wealthiest among them. Not that they seem to care much, but that’s actually not helpful to any of us now, in case they haven’t noticed. It’s also not all that beneficial for the future, either—the one extending past their version of long-term, which appears to be “next week.”
The leading voices will continue to sing the same songs because it serves as an effective distraction to their supporters. Enacting legislation (or opposing it if that’s easier) to honor their small group of VIP citizens is much easier when their own aren’t paying attention. the rest of us can be dismissed with just a few tried and true shots from the playbook.
If the well-being of all of us didn’t matter, playing the game for a few more decades might be fun. But it’s not now, and won’t be later—less so, most likely.
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