“I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. Suppose any party, in addition to whatever share it may possess of the ability of the community, has nearly the whole of its stupidity, that party must, by the law of its constitution, be the stupidest party… It may be said that if stupidity has a tendency to Conservatism, sciolism, or half-knowledge, has a tendency to Liberalism.
I have grown appreciation to respect some conservative ideas. As I grow older, I see why some look for stability. There is plenty of good debate when it comes fiscal responsibility and gradual reformism, but this doesn’t mean I would reject lgbt rights or support gutting welfare. But yes, generally stupid people seem to gravitate in the direction of conservatism or right.
PS. As a left leaning person, I also agree with Mill’s point about liberals but that is a different topic for another time.
The problem with this current sect of conservative cultists is that even though they claim to like those few halfway decent ideals, they actually don’t, because they give zero fucks when elected Republicans actively do the exact opposite, and conversely if a Democrat did what they claim to like, they’d be furious.
Maybe the closest sane conservative politicians in America are in Alaska. They are Republican for a long time but they have ranked choice voting, and universal basic income coming from oil revenue. I can’t remember the details but it was before the pandemic that both Republicans and Democrats agreed on a progressive policy, thanks to ranked choice voting that force politicians to compromise.
There are exceptions of course but if you sit down with both conservatives and liberals, both would actually find agreement on many things. It’s mainly that politicians intentionally divide people.
Wouldn’t you believe it, everything insults them, everyone is against them.
Then why is conservatism still the most frequent mental disorder!?
John Stuart Mill has this to say:
I have grown appreciation to respect some conservative ideas. As I grow older, I see why some look for stability. There is plenty of good debate when it comes fiscal responsibility and gradual reformism, but this doesn’t mean I would reject lgbt rights or support gutting welfare. But yes, generally stupid people seem to gravitate in the direction of conservatism or right.
PS. As a left leaning person, I also agree with Mill’s point about liberals but that is a different topic for another time.
Edit: autoco-wreck
The problem with this current sect of conservative cultists is that even though they claim to like those few halfway decent ideals, they actually don’t, because they give zero fucks when elected Republicans actively do the exact opposite, and conversely if a Democrat did what they claim to like, they’d be furious.
Maybe the closest sane conservative politicians in America are in Alaska. They are Republican for a long time but they have ranked choice voting, and universal basic income coming from oil revenue. I can’t remember the details but it was before the pandemic that both Republicans and Democrats agreed on a progressive policy, thanks to ranked choice voting that force politicians to compromise.
There is a small conservative Texan town that embraced renewable energy, which contradicts the stereotype that they are not progressive.
There are exceptions of course but if you sit down with both conservatives and liberals, both would actually find agreement on many things. It’s mainly that politicians intentionally divide people.