Binod Shah, a refugee from Bhutan, went to church, got married and started an auto shop in Twin Falls, Idaho. But an arrest record got him caught in the ICE dragnet
It’s a lost identity, is what it is. American conservatives will give you 4 different definitions of what conservatism is supposed to be, and leftists will give you an additional 6 more.
What it’s supposed to be is a political counter to the progressivism of the left. Lefties push progressive rhetoric and the conservatives keep them in check to prevent them from blowing up the economy.
Except, in practice, we haven’t had a conservative leader that actually knows the value of a dollar bill in (at least) over a century, even prior to that it was primarily the political party of “I want to keep slaves and I’m not going to let you stop me”, and in the modern day it’s been entirely co-opted by the Christian Church and its tireless quest to completely enslave every human being on the planet.
Conservatism was originally founded in the late 18th century to oppose Enlightenment ideas of rule of law and meritocracy. Those ideas were being promoted by new-money capitalists and the striving middle class. Progressives had very little traction back then, except in short bursts. The 18th-century revolutions were led by the bourgeoisie, allied in some cases with the working class. The leaders of the American revolution were mainly large landowners, and those of the French revolution lawyers and journalists.
The only strong progressive movement in the US was the labor movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Both US parties committed vast resources to suppress and persecute that movement. FDR later co-opted some of their ideas in order to reform capitalism enough to prevent the left seizing power. But for most of US history, there hasn’t been enough progressivism in the US for the conseratives or the liberals to bother spending much effort opposing it.
It’s a lost identity, is what it is. American conservatives will give you 4 different definitions of what conservatism is supposed to be, and leftists will give you an additional 6 more.
What it’s supposed to be is a political counter to the progressivism of the left. Lefties push progressive rhetoric and the conservatives keep them in check to prevent them from blowing up the economy.
Except, in practice, we haven’t had a conservative leader that actually knows the value of a dollar bill in (at least) over a century, even prior to that it was primarily the political party of “I want to keep slaves and I’m not going to let you stop me”, and in the modern day it’s been entirely co-opted by the Christian Church and its tireless quest to completely enslave every human being on the planet.
Conservatism was originally founded in the late 18th century to oppose Enlightenment ideas of rule of law and meritocracy. Those ideas were being promoted by new-money capitalists and the striving middle class. Progressives had very little traction back then, except in short bursts. The 18th-century revolutions were led by the bourgeoisie, allied in some cases with the working class. The leaders of the American revolution were mainly large landowners, and those of the French revolution lawyers and journalists.
The only strong progressive movement in the US was the labor movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Both US parties committed vast resources to suppress and persecute that movement. FDR later co-opted some of their ideas in order to reform capitalism enough to prevent the left seizing power. But for most of US history, there hasn’t been enough progressivism in the US for the conseratives or the liberals to bother spending much effort opposing it.
Still is.