Sometimes people accuse me of not listening to the opposing side in our Great Culture Argument. Not true. I’ve been paying close attention to conservatives for 30 years, and this is what I’ve heard:
- The federal government is the problem. The free market is the solution.
- Government governs best when it governs least.
- Under the tax-and-spend liberals, from FDR until Reagan, the federal government became bloated and wasteful.
- Government should be shrunk to a much more manageable size (Grover Norquist: “I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”)
- The states should decide most issues, not Washington.
- Taxes should never be raised under any circumstances.
- Taxes should be cut so the individual can decide what to do with his or her hard-earned money.
- Cutting taxes stimulates the economy and actually results in more government revenue.
- Government should reduce regulations so the free market can work its magic. Regulations strangle economic growth.
- Enlightened self-interest and a free market lead to the creation of wealth, and the benefits trickle down to the rest of us. A rising tide raises all boats.
- Cutting spending is the only way to balance the federal budget. Raising taxes kills job creation.
- The federal government has too many social service programs. They make people dependent on handouts and undermine individual responsibility. Get people off welfare and they’ll be better off. Leave charity to the churches, the private (i.e. corporate) sector, and the rich.
- Supreme Court cases should be decided based on what the framers of the Constitution originally intended.
- Social Security should be privatized so people can make their own decisions about investing their retirement funds.
- The more government controls things, the more they screw it up. That includes health care which should be left to the free market like everything else.
- Don’t cut the defense budget.
- It’s OK to go to war if you have probable cause, even if you don’t have the evidence.
- Get tough on crime. Get even tougher on terrorism.
- Campaign funding is equivalent to free speech, so there should be few limits on donations and donors should be anonymous. Corporations are the same as individuals and should enjoy the same right of free speech.
- Stop illegal immigration at our borders, send back the illegal aliens who slip through, and legal immigrants need to learn English and assimilate.
- The economy takes priority over the ecology. Improving the environment should never result in a loss of jobs.
- America is about freedom — i.e. freedom from having the government tell us how to live our lives.
- Change should never be rushed into. In general, the wisdom of the past is the best guide for the future.
Have I left anything out? Oh, a few things (prayer in the classroom, posting the 10 Commandments in government buildings, teaching Creationism in our public schools, vouchers for private schools, marriage only between a man and a woman, no federal funding for abortions), but this should be enough to prove I’ve been listening. Can any conservatives out there do the same for progressives — respectfully, accurately and without exaggeration? That’s what dialogue looks like. At any rate it’s the first step.
The conservative world view is easy to understand, easily summarized, and has been reiterated so often by a compliant media that everyone is familiar with it. That may be why the conservative agenda has ruled civic affairs in this country for the past 30 years.
Conservatives are very clear about what they stand for. They’ve made it equally clear they intend to keep on doing the exact same things if they get control of the White House and Congress. No surprises. No new ideas. Same old same old with the same result. The problem is it doesn’t work — and it very nearly dragged us into another Great Depression.
On the other hand, progressives have not been as clear about what they will do if voters give them a governing (i.e. filibuster-proof) majority next November. If progressives don’t make that case, conservatives will do it for them — and that won’t be pretty.
So what do progressives stand for?
Anyone out there want to take a crack at it?