"You're just biased against conservative opinion!"

What is Conservatism, and how did it become a cover-all excuse for the inability to think?

If you’re seeking the answer to the first part, don’t ask anybody identifying as “Conservative.” They don’t know what it really means. I say that knowing I will be wrong, but only in one out of ten thousand cases. That is because the answer to the first part –what is it – is “dead.” The reason it’s dead is because it has become an excuse for those who have no ability to accomplish intelligent political discourse.

Because the word is often used in political conversations, it helps to have a better understanding of what it is supposed to mean. If most of those calling themselves Conservative aren’t, then what are they?

We can find the answer to the second part of the question by answering the first.

I’ll begin by giving a brief review of what Conservatism was.

Edmund Burke, the Grandfather of American Conservatism

The grandfather of American Conservatism was a member of the British House of Commons elected in 1765. He was appalled at the way the French Revolution played out. It was a bloody, messy civil war that toppled the traditional rule of church and nobles, and attempted to create a new version of society beyond the simply political.

Burke believed in the importance maintaining a traditional Moral Order. He had faith in government and its institutions and those of society, and believed that measured change should happen within and preserving of those institutions.

However, Burke was not a Conservative or a Tory, he was a Whig. Not long after his passing the Whigs joined with other political factions and became the British Liberal Party.

Yes, American “Conservatives,” your grandfather was...a Liberal!

Yes, American Conservatism was the love child of a same sex couple. Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley (Russ is the little guy above) birthed the Conservative Movement in the early 1950s. Far from being the “Birthers” we know today, these men advanced an intellectual disagreement with some ideas being labeled as “Liberal” at that time.

Kirk’s book, The Conservative Mind introduced Burke’s mindset to the new movement. It included six principles of Conservatism, later expanded to ten. Read them and note how many you don’t find objectionable. True conservatism wasn’t the radical departure from mainstream thought the word now represents.

He also described conservatism as:

“...there exists no Model Conservative, and conservatism is the negation of ideology; it is a state of mind, a type of character, a way of looking at the civil social order.The attitude we call conservatism is sustained by a body of sentiments, rather than by a system of ideological dogmata.”

Oh, “Conservatives,” it’s a good thing your father died (in '94) before he could see the ideological, dogmatic, lock-stepping, slogan spouting, anti-intellectual proliferators of fear and resentment you have become!

There it is. Today’s “Conservatives” are careening down the Paranoia Highway, at least 10 exits past the Conservative turn-off. Whatever sentiments of true conservatism remain within the movement are negated by the actions and rhetoric of its members. The contemporary anti-intellectual “Conservatives” are a group of uni-morons representing an oxymoron.  

So what are these “Conservatives” who aren’t Conservatives?

We turn to Buckley for that answer.

Buckley’s book, God and Man at Yale, launched his career as the most recognized intellectual voice of the Conservative movement. His contribution to this examination comes from his Mission Statement of the National Review, the weekly magazine of Conservative opinion. (Now too often about “Conservative” opinion, NR panders to the forces Buckley used to denounce. “Liberal Fascism?” Et tu, Goldberg?)

Here Buckley uses “radical” in terms of open and complete opposition to what he saw as the ruling class of liberal ideologues, as compared to the more passive conservatism that did and does exist in the minds of many, if not most Americans.

Buckley writes:

“Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity."

Buckley correctly identifies and shows great contempt for those who have lately stolen Conservatism’s identity and attached it to their brand of politics. They are the Radical Right Wing - politically ignorant amoral liars - their only connection to true Conservative thought coming from stealing the name.

While the last time America had to deal with a large right wing movement saw us landing on the beaches of Normandy, this one is defeating itself. It’s ruining the Conservative brand along with the Republican Party, and the louder and more obnoxious it gets, the less support - even if more fervent - it has.

This chart bears witness to that reality.

I have added the black line representing the rising level of right wing noise and paranoia, but the Pew poll results showing the decline of those willing to admit to being Republican speaks loudly as well.

Before we end this examination of the death of Conservatism/rise of the Right Wingers, let’s look at the results of this Great Intellectual Force becoming intellectual farce.

The Conservative movement used to be represented by the thoughts of these intellectuals, among others:

Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, GW Bush, Sarah Palin, Beaver, Koala

Note: Nixon, Ford, GHW Bush and McCain were/are not considered movement Conservatives. The Beaver and Koala are trend line projections, as Republican Presidential nominations are opened to mammals in general, then foreign born mammals.

Nothing has had more influence on turning the Conservative movement into a cackling convention of Right Wing ideologues than the so-called “Conservative Media.” In its ever-expanding effort to top its last overblown expression of outrage and paranoia, it has performed exactly the same “Top This!” act it long accused the “liberal" producers of “Hollyweird” movies, Rap lyricists and rock musicians of performing.

 The Right Wing is no longer as concerned
 with governing power as it is with keeping an
 audience of willing participants listening to
 their radio shows, visiting their web sites and
 watching Fox News. To achieve this loyalty,
 those media efforts appeal to the least
 intelligent Americans by cranking up their 
 prejudices and outrage with contrived targets
 to fear and loathe.

The Battalions of Boobs are convinced that other Americans are their sworn enemies, and are trying to steal their money, liberty and country. This is no different than the propaganda devices used by either of the worst representations of Left and Right radical movements of the last century, or what any cult uses to seduce its members to lockstep allegiance.

Sadly, the Right Wing tail no longer simply wags the Republican elephant, it has become the elephant.

Tying this examination back to the title, who among us hasn’t heard a completely bone ignorant expression of wholesale stupidity defended by tagging it as a “Conservative opinion?” As if ideology is the reason you’re shaking your head, rolling your eyes and ridiculing and laughing.

I’ll leave you with a few random examples of Right Wing ignorance and other observations. I'll continue to refer to them as "Conservatives" as they are easily confused. Try to remember these folks are a dying inbreed, and have a good chuckle on your way out.

 Because most American universities are hotbeds of liberal brainwashing, many studying to become"Conservative" activists have to complete their education elsewhere. These two Regent University grads are studying Moronism in Central America.