As usual, one of the respondents to my last blog helped crystalize things in mind. That being said, I also have the added benefit of having a family and group of friends that is mostly conservative. Outside of my parents, sister, and one uncle, all of them are conservative. Yet, we remain close and I remain friends with those not in my family. I think we did this by coming to the collective understanding that we really believed in the ideologies we did.
I came to understand this by understanding that there was a huge difference between ideology and facts. I remember sitting in on a high school debate and watching to learn how to judge. One side cited NO sources throughout the debate. That's right NONE. In one moment, arguing for more United Nations action they said, "I cannot think of one United Nations police action that backfired." You can insert your joke here while I think of something else to write.
I really do believe that idealism exists on both sides. Conservatives really believe in the ideology. The problem is when facts and ideology divide. We have the same problem. I remember telling myself in high school that all welfare recipients would take advantage of an opportunity to get training or work if that were given to them. Teaching in the environment where I am at and looking at people in my family and wife's family has proven me wrong.
Believing in those strict ideologies is a lot like believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. If you can trick your brain into believing it then you are a lot happier person. Suddenly, getting that new Macbook is possible because it isn't about how much I can afford (and by extension my wife and vice versa) it is about whether both of us can be good. If I'm good then Santa will get it for me. Factually, I know that's wrong and therefore I'm stuck with the same old HP that takes ten minutes to turn on.
The problem I have when dealing with conservatives is when I try to convince them that the facts are not always on their side. In yesterday's blog, Fantasyland asked the salient question, "what is honest about conservatism?" It was an excellent question, but honesty or dishonesty is not something I would attach to an ideology. There are either facts supporting it or not. I can believe that people would donate more to charity if given the chance. We know that is more or less untrue, but then again that would be a point that falls under our particular ideology.
At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves how much we want to base on what is and how much we want to base on what should be. Obama's speech tonight will go a long way in determining where he is at on that question. Most of us would rather exist in what should be. It's a happier place to be. As Thom Hartmann said in his book, Cracking the Code, you are either moving away from pain or moving towards pleasure. The way things oughta be is a pleasurable place to be. Dealing with what is now is not. This is why so many people spend their time worrying about how things should be instead of focusing on facts. Facts can be painful.
my family ONLY watches fox news and believes fox is the ONLY truth in media. my brother is a card carrying member of glen beck's snake group (the 912'ers). my parents, mid 70's have been scared shitless by daily emails about govt takeovers and i spent 4hrs pleading with my dad that obama is not mobilizing a "secret" army to become the next hitler. this secret army idea was emailed by a conservative pro-life, right wing nut church group. my sisters are both ultra-consumers, concerned only with endless shopping and gambling junkets when not sitting in the front pew or listening in their cars to talk radio lies. i now believe that only my college education saved me from the fate of my sad, ignorant, god-fearing family. i am thankful that my own children and most of my nieces and nephews are in school and have overcome the blight of ignorance that shrouds my family. naturally i am accused of "brainwashing" the children, despite my insistence that they develop political ideas of their own. my family is just as divided as the north and south during the civil war - this weekend my niece will be married with several refusing to attend the secular service. my brother vowed to keep his children home from school because of obama's speech, my oldest nephew was kicked out of his own home - his crime was asserting that high school students should hear it and make up their own minds. i watched the speech with my youngest tues night as the other parents demanded a boycott. i watched reagan's 1988 speech the same day and was horrified by what i heard! i would love to hear from anyone on this forum experiencing what i go through with my family's extreme bigotry, racial hatred and fear of obama.
I agree with everything said here. However, the U.S. is the most economically and technologically successful society of all time. No other empire, country, kingdom, etc. comes close to the wealth that we have accumulated. The U.S. collects enough revenue to pay for anything we choose. But, for some reason the powers that be choose weapons and corporations to spend our money on.
Anything we spend on education or welfare is dwarfed by the mountains of money spent on corporate subsidies and the military. Both of which we pay for again if we need anything from them.
For someone to ask me to devote my time to some worthy cause is a valid argument, till it is compared to the literal wealth of nations squandered on special interest. I feel it all boils down to priorities. Our priority should be the long term education and health of the populace. Instead our priority seems to be the economic wealth of a few.
Relax. It was a figurative touching, not literal.
The really sad part with broad generalizations is that it is typically at attempt to pidgeonhole individuals based on one issue; a tactic just as stupid as prejudging someone based upon the color of their skin.
I put you in because I agreed with your basic premise in a very narrow sense. While an ideology cannot lie, one that cannot stand up to facts will surely die. I do believe there are some (because I know them) that are personally generous people and think others should be. I agree that we should be generous in helping others. The REALITY is that most people don't give enough (myself included). I try to give my time and somehow rationalize it as donating my services for free yaddada yaddada......
BTW, thank you to Machine I think...:) However, I don't want to know what people do while they read the entries on this site.....:)
LOL machine. If I haven't said this before... your funny.
I get it Scott. I do generalize and I can't say I have never been schooled on something by a conservative. Their apparent grasp of reason does sometimes surprise me. I suppose the point I try to get across to people is how some come to different solutions. And those solutions speak volumes about their character.
To use an analogy...
A conservative is the consummate hammer. Always pounding away at that square block, forcing it into whatever round hole they can find.
A liberal is the consummate appeaser. Always thinking which shape fits which hole. Analyzing a situation, and sometimes over analyzing, to get that perfect fit.
Both have their faults, and both sometimes just say 'fuck it, just do it this way' whether it works or not. I suppose at the end of the day I would rather been known as the person who fed the poor instead of starving them to death.
Granted not everyone is going to try and better themselves. I look at it this way, and often say to my conservative friends and family, that if you deny welfare to people you WILL effect that lazy person who refuses to get off their butts and do something. Unfortunately, when you do this you effect that single parent who IS actually trying to better themselves. They work hard and care for their children. Those are the people I care about. If we carry along someone who doesn't deserve a chance, it comes with the territory.
As a society you have to take the good with the bad. Education I believe is the true solution to societies problems. I merely look at who cuts education spending and who doesn't. Historically conservatives have cut education spending. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Excellent writeup. Your delineation between fact and ideology is so dead on and intellectually exciting, I want to touch myself while re-reading the post.
In economics there exists the concept of positive statements and normative statements, both directly relating to your post topic here. Extreme elements often favor the latter while declining to even consider the former.