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Articles:
Politics
If
Conservatives Had Their Way in the Late 18th Century, We'd
Still Be A British Commonwealth
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
During
the late eighteenth century, when the American colonists were
struggling against British oppression and fighting for independence,
there were conservatives in America. They went by names like
"Tories" and "loyalists", and, like today,
they were satisfied with the status quo. They considered the
political philosophies of liberalism and libertarianism to
be dangerous to their personally cozy way of life, without
regard to the opposing perspectives of their fellow men. These
conservatives lived in comfort or even opulence, finding themselves
positioned to benefit from imperial rule. If others suffered
under it, it did not matter to them because they had what
they wanted. If they had prevailed in enforcing their narrow
political ideals on other colonists, we would likely still
be under British control.
Conservatives
who find themselves thriving in disfunctional political, economic,
and social systems defend those systems as "near perfect"
and staunchly oppose meddling with them. Such interference
could disrupt their own influx of wealth and power, even if
it could benefit the majority. As a result, like those conservatives
over two hundred years ago, the conservatives of today fight
to maintain the status quo.
Today
we have a critically corrupt political system filled with
spineless "representatives of the people" who quickly
fall under the spell of lobbyist donations. We have the onslaught
of greedy corporations, all too eager to buy off such politicians
in order to obtain favorable legislation, often at the expense
of the people. They lobby for relaxed air emissions standards,
because it's cheaper and more profitable for them, and they
don't care about the health impact to everyone else. They
lobby against minimum wages, since employee wages cut into
their profits and they don't care about the welfare of their
workers. They lobby for lower taxes for themselves, and higher
taxes for the working class. They lobby for regressive taxes
such as sales and excise taxes which disproportionately burden
the poor. These economic juggernauts prey on the people in
other ways as well, from predatory lending practices and high
interest rates to peddling a never-ending supply of dangerous
and unhealthy products. They find what people need the most
to survive, such as medical care and prescription drugs, and
then charge people as much as they possibly can. They squeeze
every penny from Americans who can least afford it in order
to fatten their own wallets. Amidst all this, conservatives
work to maintain these unjust systems and fight any progressive
reform. They work against the people in order to keep themselves,
their associates, and the select few wealthy.
Conservatives,
too, like to attack liberal ideals. They dismiss notions of
equality, social welfare, a clean environment, progressive
taxation, affordable health care for all, and renewable energy
as "radical", "unpatriotic", or "communist".
Anything that benefits the people or injures the profits of
the wealthy few is to be opposed. Education, too, is often
attacked. Conservatives like to portray the educated as the
"academic elite", who should be distrusted by the
people. In reality, conservatives fear education since it
leads people to question things. Most importantly, they fight
against political reform, a transparent voting system, and
an end to lobbyist influence. They work against the people
in order to maintain a broken "reverse-Robin Hood"
system that sucks money from the lower- and middle-class majority
and funnels it to the wealthy few. They benefit from the system,
and in stunningly treasonous behavior, defend its undemocratic,
anti-populist, and anti-American continuation.
The
reality is that America was founded on "radical"
and "liberal" ideals. Our founding fathers were
violent revolutionaries who grew tired of the broken system
they lived in. They spoke out and took action to take power
out of the hands of the moneyed elite and imperialist forces,
and put it in the hands of the people. They fought and died,
drowning in sweat and blood for years in order to gain independence
for America. The courage of their convictions lead the people
to rise up against the status quo and fight for their rights
and their liberty.
It
pains me today to read the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas
Paine, Samuel Adams and other patriots who believed in the
will of the people. I look around at the disfunctional systems
of today and think they may be horrified at what their nation
has become. They fought so hard against the rule of the wealthy
elite, and for the rule of the people, and yet today we seem
to be in direct opposition to that ideal. Make no mistake,
our politicians do not act in our interest. They act in the
interest of their wealthy donors and lobbyists, and as a result
often work against us. Unlike our liberal founding fathers,
the conservatives of today work like eighteenth-century Tories
to maintain this plutocracy. On Independence Day, they should
all be hiding in their homes in shame.
It
does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate,
tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in
the minds of men. --Samuel Adams
Experience
hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those
entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations,
perverted it into tyranny. --Thomas Jefferson
I
believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom
of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those
in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. --James
Madison
Every
generation needs a new revolution. --Thomas Jefferson
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