Authentic Conservatism Must Prevail
April 16th, 2006
As I become an Older Conservative – I realize that there has come to be two types of conservatism.
There is what I call “Authentic” conservatism, which is the old-school Original Gangstah conservatism. Edmund Burke conservatism that is rooted in conserving the traditions of a given society and that measures the success of a community or a society by the quality of it’s values.
Then there are what I call “Gordon Gekko” conservatives, who are misguided individuals who have come to believe that conservatism is synonymous with Free Market Extremism and the idiotic belief that “Greed” actually is “good”.
You see this later and more destructive form of conservatism more and more today, and it always breaks my heart when it manifests itself, especially when those conservative voices that I’ve grown to love and trust begin to spout it. It always feels like such a betrayal.
When Thomas Sowell throws himself on Greedy Land developers.
When Charles Krauthammer throws himself on big oil.
When Amy Ridenour throws herself in front of The Crooked “E” Enron.
When Michelle Malkin throws herself on Big Box Mart.
When Outside The Beltway bemoans people who dislike “McMansions”.
If the term Brown Sludge has come to mean anything, it’s come to mean this :
The Authentic Conservative looks at what’s happening at the gas pumps and understands the very simple fact that the oil companies control the actual means of production – this absolutely means they control the supply side of the “supply and demand” formula. Like an obnoxious little fat kid with his hand on the back-yard water hose – they are free to crimp that hose shut, or throw the valve wide and let it pour. This makes any argument about “supply and demand” ridiculous. The Authentic Conservative sees the damage this is doing to the American Consumer and is OUTRAGED.
The Gordon Gekko Conservative points to the $3.00 a gallon sign at the gas station and does their best “Greed is Good” hallelujah shout and moronically proclaims “Now THAT’s the FREE MARKET at WORK boys and girls!”. Charles Krauthammer: “Thank God For $3.50 Gasoline!”
The Authentic Conservative looks at what’s happening in the Enron trials and is saddened and horrified by the idea that these men may have defrauded and damaged the lives of millions of California ratepayers and ruined the retirement and lives of countless thousands of others and is reviled. The Authentic Conservative hopes that the men that caused all this pain and suffering are held accountable and will someday regret what they’ve done.
The Gordon Gekko Conservative feels sorry for these con-men because they didn’t get away with it and weren’t allowed to fleece the ratepayers even more.
The Authentic Conservative looks over a rural community and sees a core base of people who are rooted in their faiths and beliefs and by a love of their community and their way of life, and who are trying desperately to hold on to that faith and that way of life in the face of overwhelming pressure from society and the prevailing culture. They see a community that values their VALUES.
The Gordon Gekko Conservative looks at that same community and begins counting the cash they are going to haul in when they infiltrate that communities elected offices and pass legislation that makes it possible for their land-developler buddies to make an Eminent Domain grab and auction ever parcel to be converted into McMansions.
The Authentic Conservative looks at the work of the Artisan and sees something original, and worthwhile, and valuable.
The Gordon Gekko Conservative looks at the work of the Artisan and wonders much they could get for it on E-Bay.
The Authentic Conservative sees the beauty of “small, local, independent”.
The Gordon Gekko Conservative is nothing more than a Free Market Extremist that has long since stopped worshipping anything real or spiritual and whose only faith now is faith in the Almighty Dollar.
* UPDATE * A kind reader pointed out that I had pointed to a contextually similar - but unrelated article by Thomas Sowell in the original link. I had filed the piece improperly. I had wanted to point to an article that he wrote where he was complaining that what he called “The Green Crowd” and how they didn’t like when people developed land on or near public parks and made a point that people who wanted to “build vacation homes” on the property had just as much right to the land as anyone else. It always breaks my heart when people who I consider conservatives throw themselves on land developers. The link has been corrected.
Entry Filed under: General, Big Oil, The Right Has It Wrong, Brown Sludge Explained, Thoughts
3 Comments Add your own
1. Steve Verdon | April 27th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Uhhhmmm did you read the Sowell article? He is decrying the Kelo decision as a bad thing. If anything he is against the real estate developers. Sowell wrote,
How many private homeowners can afford to litigate such claims all the way up and down the judicial food chain? Apartment dwellers who are thrown out on the street by the bulldozers are even less able to defend themselves with litigation.
The best that can be said for the Supreme Court majority’s opinion is that it follows — and extends — certain judicial precedents. But, as Justice Clarence Thomas said in dissent, these “misguided lines of precedent” need to be reconsidered, so as to “return to the original meaning of the Public Use Clause” in the Constitution.
He is opposed to the taking of property from private individuals by the government using eminent domain to hand over to other private individuals/concerns. You have mischaracterized his argument and libeled Mr. Sowell.
Oh, I’ve always seen Sowell as more of libertarian than a conservative.
2. Mac | April 27th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Actually, I’ve corrected the article link. I had filed it originally under “property rights”, but the article I wanted to point to was the article where he stood up for those who wanted to build “vacation properties” near national park lands. Something that just turns my stomache. I’ve corrected the link.
As to you’re comment about Mr. Sowell being more of a libertarian than a conservative, I’m afraid your right about that. Although I’ve always thought of him as a great Conservative voice, his views on many things are more in line with libertarianism than they are pure grassroots Conservatism.
Which is probably why it breaks my heart and feels like such a betrayal when he starts sounding so much like a mouthpiece for the Randian Wing of the Libertarians.
3. Xris Xross | October 21st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I like your analysis of the two types of conservative, and I’m with you in bemoaning how almost all Authentic conservative voices have been drowned out (or swallowed up) by the Gordon Gekko variety. In the last 25 years, if we could have heard a few more Authentic voices loud and clear above the clamoring din of the Gekkoes, it’s my guess we wouldn’t be floppping around in the economic quagmire we’ve danced our way into at the beginning of this new millennium.
Ordinarily, I think of myself socio-politically as “liberal” or “progressive,” but I positively identify with the Authentic conservative perspective you’ve laid out here. Like you, I think a completely arrogant greed divorced from any sort of compassion is at the root of the so-called “conservative/neo-con” ideology we’ve been living with for a long time now.
Ultimately it’s much more effective to sit down to a discussion than to stand up for beliefs right or wrong. And it certainly goes a long way toward building a community when both sides actually trust that something might be gained from discourse and dialogue rather than “winning” the argument by shouting down the opposition. Maybe a day will dawn when Authentic conservatives reclaim their territory from the power-mad Gekkoes, and we can put civility back into our Civil Discourse. I hope so.
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