Who's Ox is Being Gored?
never admit to ∏eh W∅n that you have an ox
A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was. Since its very beginnings as a movement, conservatism has bought into liberalism’s dominant place in the American political process. "
erm, what?
Conservatism [as I understand it—correct me if I’m off nutz wrong] traces its origins back to 1776 and the ideas and, yes, Ideals articulated by the Founding Fathers. The Original Revolution, donchanoo.
...Liberalism’s image of conservatives in the ‘50s and ‘60s as paranoid Birchers gave birth to a conservative movement self-conscious of its minority status. As in any tribe that is small in number and can’t fully trust its most natural allies (i.e. the business community or the Republican Party), the meta-debate of who is inside and outside the tribe is magnified exponentially.
So, really, it’s all about meta-debates, “perception = reality” and inside baseball discussions? No. What it’s really about is that most folks, no matter how they identify themselves ‘politically,’ really just want to be left alone to make their own decisions, run their own lives, raise their families, and have a bit of time and wherewithal to have a little fun now and again.
When it comes right down to the immediate threat of gubbmint intrusion/regulation into the most basic aspects of people’s lives, even those who are all “for” Big Gubbmint “fixing” everyone’s problems get prickly and resist. Hard. It’s all okey-dokey and zippity-do-dah unicorn farts ‘n’ whey when it’s somebody else’s “problems” being “fixed”—when they’re up your sleeve, even the dried-up Earthmothers and Vegan Geldings shout “Whoa!”
So maybe what we need is a flood of EweToob videos of individuals—small business owners, private property owners, working guys, ..., telling exactly how ∏eh W∅n’s “stimulus” package is effecting them.
[eg: Didja know that that whopping $13 a week you get this year is gonna be taxed as income next year?]
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