The sad thing is that many conservative concepts are valuable and substantial but the movement is mired in hypocrisy and, quite frankly, anti-intellectualism and all that entails (including, yes, RACISM). It is immediately assumed that any minority who achieves success in this country is the beneficiary of “affirmative action” which is kind of ironic considering white women have benefited primarily from it. Most people equate “conservative” with “old, rich white guy” and, if the assumption is that the country was better off under the beneficent guidance of that demographic, then who pray-tell has been responsible for this country falling off a cliff? Old, rich white guys have been in charge of this country since the beginning. Maybe it was the “bleeding hearts” who did it, huh? Those soft folks who thought that minorities and women weren’t really so different and maybe just wanted the same opportunities to live in peace and be productive.

The conservative movement is still the movement of scapegoats. It’s a movement that thrives on fear and bogeymen, scary brown people and those awful, awful gays. Conservatives cheer freedom while endorsing the police state because cops are great when they are locking up minorities but not so great when they start to hunt down “tax cheats.”

You can’t have it both ways. People will embrace “conservative” ideals when conservatives show that there is a place at the table for EVERYONE who wants to live a peaceful, productive life. Until then, “conservatism” is just advocacy for race wars and bigotry for many people.

As the poor whites of Jim Crow were manipulated by the Southern power elite, so the teapartiers are being manipulated by the Republicans and others to act against their own interests.

It does not help that in my experience, many of them are mentally weak and unable to deal with frustration.

And, to Benjamin – #1 and #2 are desires of those who wish a return to states’ power. The Dept of Ed is highly unconstitutional, and it may surprise you to learn that the public school system was put into place to serve the poorest members of our society, who had no other options, so that they would get a basic education and be ready for working in a factory when they left. It was never intended to handle the number of students that it currently does. Given the original goals, is it any wonder that our Ed system is in the state it is? Also, Medicare and Social Security have failed miserably.

As to #3 and #4, it is silly to expect these men and women to work for the good of all without paying them. It is not socialism to pay the people who work for you – and those people are working for the American people. But, the way that it is supposed to work, is that the Fed gov’t should be raising funds through tariffs – not by a direct tax on our people. This also helps to protect American interests in the global marketplace. Then, for additional funds if necessary for wars, etc… a bill would be given to the states’ based on their population, and then it was up to the states to decide how to raise that money.

The Fed gov’t only had 17 enumerated powers in the Constitution – and they are forbidden from taking others. What we have seen is a few people creating an elite ruling class in this country similar to what the colonists faced in the 1700s…

Very true and counter narratives need to be crafted with more frequency. As a preliminary one, conservatives can employ the points contained within Dylan Hales’ article “The New Left was Right”:

“Though ethnic identity movements are often seen as antithetical to libertarian ideas, this myopic view only serves those who wish to stymie real challenges to entrenched power. In the early days of the radical civil rights movement, one could find a communitarian spirit sorely lacking in most of the establishment politics of the era, liberal or otherwise. Though contemporary accounts tend to separate the predominantly white New Left from the Black Power movement, the spirit of anti-authoritarianism was a shared and primary trait of both. Though the bombastic attitudes and Maoist mania of the Black Panthers eventually led to that group coming to define the very worst aspects of the time, the early Panthers embodied the self-determinist localism envisioned by many early American conservative icons. The ten-point program of the party included many overtly socialist proposals, to be sure, but its framework and implementation were a separate matter. In organizing at the community level, the radical movements of the ’60s touched on a principle often fetishized by conservatives but rarely practiced. “

Benjamin, all these things would be pursued by the right but for the incessant, shrill cries of “racism!” and “disparate impact!” that would certainly follow any serious attempt to dismantle the welfare state. Charges, leveled by the left, that these positions can only be motivated by racism–not the republican principles of the founders–is the seemingly insurmountable stumbling block for conservatives. If you perceive the right to be inconsistent, it is due to no small part of the left being complicit in the right’s hypocrisy through the support for neocons and disregard for the alternative right.

I want to see some consistency, FOR ONCE, from the right wing in America. If you are against government actions (except in the case of abortion and preventing gay marriage, obviously- first contradictions), I want to see you folks pursue the following steps:

1. End the public school system. Funded by tax payers- those damn socialist kids get their education for free or darn near it!!

2. End Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security.

3. Stop Congressmen (even ‘anti-socialist’ ones) from receiving a salary from the public. Public funds paying the salaries of congressmen is SOCIALIST!!!!!!

4. Privatize the military. Redistribution of wealth supporting the military= SOCIALISM!!!!!!!!!

Just some thougts people! I want to see the rght-wing be consistent for once.