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“Conservatism” Conserves Nothing
(www.currentaffairs.org)
Beehaw's community for socialists, communists, anarchists, and non-authoritarian leftists (this means anti-capitalists) of all stripes. A place for all leftist and labor news and discussion, as long as you're nice about it.
Non-socialists are welcome to come to learn, though it's hard to get to in-depth discussions if the community is constantly fighting over the basics. We ask that non-socialists please be respectful and try not to turn this into a "left vs right" debate forum by asking leading questions or by trying to draw others into a fight.
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I find the whole self-labeling of conservative to be founded on shaky grounds. Basically it's authoritarianism by another term. I often don't see conservatives actually cite some great example of it by some philosopher or even a nation. Because they don't want to face that Middle East nations are what conservatism looks like. The Taliban taking over Afghanistan and regulating women and building a class system is the kind of thing they seem to express in roundabout ways as the desired outcome. But, of course, they don't just outright say "I want to be like the Taliban". But the threatening people with guns, economic system that favors those in power, women's rights, anti-education, discrimination against other faith systems... all fits. And, monarchy, I see them praise powerful monarchy. Many want business kings they admire to rule everyone with an iron fist.
Donald Trump has sure inspired a lot of follower who are incredibly loyal, and he openly praises North Korea as some kind of model nation. But I notice the followers are unwilling to outright say "we want things run like North Korea" either... they just describe a system of powerful rulers who "fix" problems using the same techniques.