Thursday, April 23, 2009

A Warning To Conservatives

Jonathan Goldberg concluded his book Liberal Fascism with a warning to conservatives not to try to translate our visons into government programs imposed upon others. He also shows how George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" assumed that limited government, free markets, and personal initiative were somehow "uncompassionate."

Under Bush Medicare spending increased 52%, education increased by 165%, anti-poverty spending increased 41% and overall spending by the government reached a record $23,289 per household. Total spending (adjusting for inflation) grew to triple the rate under Clinton.

The tempation succumbed to by conservatives is to prove that we "care" about some issue or group. To prove we are good people, we throw in the towel on issues like the environment, campaign finance reform, or racial quotas. "Compassion has become the watchword of American politics," writes Goldberg. Liberals have succeeded in forcing us to argue with their intentions, their motives, their feelings.

3 comments:

Terri Wagner said...

Yes Jonah is right and frankly I don't know how to fix it. Because people care more about feelings right now than anything else. Train up the next generation???

mushroom said...

It's hard, since compassion is a good thing to cultivate individually, but quickly goes bad when coercion is involved.

QP said...

What Mushroom Said™.

Thanks for all your Goldberg posts.