Right America has Gone Wrong

Edmund Burke, considered to be one of the founders of modern conservatism, lived in a time when rampant liberalism in Europe was causing thousands of deaths and misery, as the French Revolution became violent and unpredictable. Burke saw what could happen were the pursuit of liberty to be carried too far, too fast, as the French situation turned into an untamed spiral of executions, accusations, and eventually, tyranny. Burke's solution to this was not simply to revert back to the old system of the ancien regime, as it was obvious that that era was gone, and it was long overdue, seeing as how it was untenable in the first place. He thought that, to have an orderly and democratic society, the French needed to reform their social system, but not in a radical way; only through logically looking at what would work and what would not, by making compromises with those from the aristocracy and those from the lower classes, would France become a stable, just society which was for the benefit of all, without falling into chaos and despair. So it was that France broke away from the tyranny of Napoleon and became a constitutional monarchy, albeit briefly.
Fast-forward to the 21st century and Burke's classical conservatism is nowhere to be found among the Right in the United States. American conservatism has become so twisted, convoluted, and diverted that its pale shell only represents a shadow of what it says it does.

American conservatives say they believe in individual liberty, but that doesn't seem to extend to illegal immigrants, minorities, women, or Muslims.

American conservatives say they believe in fiscal responsibility, yet the most recent Republican president contributed more to the United States debt in only 8 years than any previous officeholder, while prominent Republicans today are adamant in extending tax cuts that would be the most egregiously irresponsible fiscal policy the government could enact, not to mention it that it would be going against what the vast majority of Americans want. Republican fiscal policies have also done the most in the past 30 years to run up the national debt.

American conservatives believe in small government, yet the most recent Republican president massively expanded the size of the U.S. government.

American conservatives hold the Constitution holy, yet they only seem to regard it as such when it benefits themselves, and not others. Complaints that President Obama is stepping all over the Constitution conveniently forget the myriad of ways President Bush actually did.

American conservatives don't want the government interfering in their lives, unless it concerns women's bodies or gay citizens' right to marry.

Edmund Burke's philosophy of liberal conservatism, which supported reform and adaptation to changing situations, would be labeled by today's American conservatives as dangerous and threatening American society.

True conservatism would not advocate for the repeal of amendments to the Constitution because of an unproven fear of "anchor" or "terror" babies. True conservatism would champion illegal immigrant's basic, inherent rights as human beings, not demonize them and call for their expulsion.

True conservatism would decry the government mandating that women were not allowed to have the choice of what to do with their body.

True conservatism would try with all its might to get the country back on its feet during an excruciating recession, because the nation comes before the party. True conservatism would compromise on issues that the vast majority of Americans find essential, not obfuscate and obstruct them.

True conservatism would change and adapt its policies and ideology as society changed around them - refusing to acknowledge the failure of tax cuts to the top 1% of the American population and remaining steadfastly exlcusionary against minorities such as Hispanics and Homosexuals being just a few examples of how far off the deep end the Right has gone in the United States. Conservatism is only enhancing its rapid descent into obscurity in the U.S. the more it embraces exclusionary tactics at the expense of inclusionary ones.

American conservatives could be making very sound, logical, reasonable arguments against the current Democratic administration, as well as arguing for different approaches to the variety of societal problems now facing the United States. Yet, no matter what they may say, there always seems to be an infusion of racial or fear-mongering aspects into the discourse. Whether it's the variety of ways the Right has vilified, lied about, maligned, and slandered the first African-American president, the virulent anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic rhetoric being spewed about, or just good old-fashioned Southern Strategy dog whistles, the Right appears to be incapable of making valid arguments about any topic without resorting to some sort of stereotype, prejudice, or race-baiting, whether consciously or not.

Arguments can be made against the President without comparing him to Adolf Hitler

Making matters even more intense is the conservative media, that being Fox News and the Right Wing blogosphere. Seeing as how the rest of the news has a "liberal media bias", conservatives are forced to rely upon Fox News, who give them what they want. Except, it is increasingly difficult for Fox News to keep up the masquerade of being a news network, as their portrayal of "facts" and stories inevitably don't hold up to scrutiny. Instead, if one were to watch only Fox News, a narrative of paranoia, apocryphal doomsday scenarios in which the overwhelming emotion induced is the fear that America is being destroyed by a secret socialist fascist communist capitalism-hating black man with a foreign name, claims that are laughable at best. The Right Wing media has become so radicalized as to be utterly hilarious to non-biased viewers, or it would be funny if it weren't also incredibly frightening. Even history has begun to be re-written.

This isn't to say that liberals and moderates don't also spread rumors or lie about their politic opponents, or that the so-called "liberal" media don't also get some facts wrong from time to time. They just in no way compare to the blatant narrative story-telling political machine at Fox News.

American conservatives hold as a tenet of their ideology family values, yet many high-profile Republicans have engaged in decidedly un-family-like practices.

American conservatives want to hold politicians and media members responsible for their actions, yet when Andrew Breitbart posted an obviously edited and truncated video showing (what else?) a black woman sounding racist against whites, there were no consequences for him. When Dan Rather made a mistake in reporting about George Bush's military service record, he lost his job.

The fundamental principles upon which the country was founded, such as separation of church and state, have been disregarded. The conservative enthusiasm for winning the "war on terror" is only going to take a step backward the more radicalized American conservatives shout their objections to a community center being built several blocks away from the site of Ground Zero.

Modern American conservatism has become incredibly hypocritical, and there is nothing stopping it from continuing in this vein. There are no mainstream Republican voices calling out for moderation, logical reform, or questioning the Right Wing media. There are no adaptations, no new ideas. The fact that Republican discourse has been forced to debate superficial issues, and not concrete policy, is a stark symbol of the degradation the movement has endured for the past several decades.

The Right has gone wrong, and by becoming so radicalized, they have sounded their own death-knell. If the spiral of hysteria on the Right does not come to an abrupt halt in the near future, the Republican party and the conservative movement as we know it will die, slowly, perhaps, but surely. American politics and American society need and deserve better than what they've been getting. Only time will tell, but as it is, things don't seem to be changing any time soon.