Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Economic vs. Social Conservatives
The American corporate elite have willingly entered into an "unholy" alliance with the religio-fascist evangelical fundamentalists. This modern corporate elite have gotten everything they want from the Bush administration, from mega tax cuts to a more lax regulatory environment. This corporate elite has almost nothing in common with the religious conservatives who provided such a large percentage of the Bush electorate. In fact, many of those corporate elitists probably have a contemptuous attitude toward the religious extremists within the "republican coalition" but they know that they can not win without them.
I believe a big part of the bargain between the various powerbrokers, the political and corporate kingmakers, includes an agreement to fund the conservative social causes out of sheer greed. Greed for power and for more money. One has to wonder however when enough money is enough? Any objective view of the expansion of capitalism, from the "Robber Barons" of the late 19th century up through the Junk Bond kings of the 1980s, and continuing through the crony capitalists of Haliburton and Enron, must conclude that unrestrained and unregulated corporations present a threat to the overall economic well-being of the majority of the citizens of the US, and even of the world. The majority of social and religious conservatives can not see, or refuse to see, how this alliance with the corporate elite is really going against their own economic interests. Their obsession with gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, and yes even Janet Jackson's tit on tv, blind them from dealing with much more important issues.
The success of the economic conservatives at coopting the social conservative movement to support their elitist economic policies is derived at least somewhat from a basic premise that a majority of Americans accept without question, that of "individual responsibility." Conservatives of all stripes believe that individuals are poor as a result of their own actions and behaviors. It is because they are either uneducated or lazy, or both, and that if they'd just work harder, either at getting a better education or at using what skills they have to improve themselves, then of course everything would be fine. Underlying this assumption is the belief of social conservatives that many of the problems of the poor are a result of some spiritual short-coming. Because they have not made a total committment to Jesus, the poor have turned instead to drugs or alcohol......Conservatives refuse to accept any societal responsibility for the condition of those who are less fortunate.
I believe a big part of the bargain between the various powerbrokers, the political and corporate kingmakers, includes an agreement to fund the conservative social causes out of sheer greed. Greed for power and for more money. One has to wonder however when enough money is enough? Any objective view of the expansion of capitalism, from the "Robber Barons" of the late 19th century up through the Junk Bond kings of the 1980s, and continuing through the crony capitalists of Haliburton and Enron, must conclude that unrestrained and unregulated corporations present a threat to the overall economic well-being of the majority of the citizens of the US, and even of the world. The majority of social and religious conservatives can not see, or refuse to see, how this alliance with the corporate elite is really going against their own economic interests. Their obsession with gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, and yes even Janet Jackson's tit on tv, blind them from dealing with much more important issues.
The success of the economic conservatives at coopting the social conservative movement to support their elitist economic policies is derived at least somewhat from a basic premise that a majority of Americans accept without question, that of "individual responsibility." Conservatives of all stripes believe that individuals are poor as a result of their own actions and behaviors. It is because they are either uneducated or lazy, or both, and that if they'd just work harder, either at getting a better education or at using what skills they have to improve themselves, then of course everything would be fine. Underlying this assumption is the belief of social conservatives that many of the problems of the poor are a result of some spiritual short-coming. Because they have not made a total committment to Jesus, the poor have turned instead to drugs or alcohol......Conservatives refuse to accept any societal responsibility for the condition of those who are less fortunate.
