Down deep, are all conservatives basically bigots of some kind?
- Texasbetaposted 13 years ago
0pustule? darn it now I have to google?
I believe it is a lot more...many of them from the past that you say framed conservatism or the GOP, are just another group in history that tries to do the correct things in life.
If you study conservative history in many recent books, I still see them not quite getting it correct...than again...liberals are not what the history of liberalism was either, and they don't have it correct yet, as well.
Until people genuinely read a broad spectrum of the views of the "other side" no one is going to "get it"!
We are to learn from history, not repeat it. we are to create what is better than what we had...or rather, find what hasn't been found yet! And as the human race, we will not find it until we start genuinely looking at each other and sincerely wanting to understand, and find the common ground for living.
Now, to me, as far as being labeled or labeling myself as conservative or liberal, I don't, becuase of the very nature of what it is I see that needs to be done.
Divided we fall, united we stand. It is all about understanding who and what God is, and how as humanity we fit in with the "model"! or rather what has been defined as the model! which in many cases on all sides of the spectrum, God is not what and who they think God is.
So, it seems really obvious, that that is the first and foremost point to come to terms on...
as well as stop painting the other as evil or wrong...we just think differently...and that is what needs to be accepted and understood and dealt with to find common ground.
Oh, to answer your question...everyone is a bigot, to some degree or another
Well yeah, when you spell it out like that, it sure does look that way, don't it?
Of course, none of the groups you mentioned are exactly champions of "family values" are they?
Attacked? Who?
You have discovered the "Irony" of the statement, good job.
Well...That's a big bunch of...
Wow. This thread is even more off-the-wall than political threads usually are.
If I managed to become very high-profile and get a lot of people to support me in a move to become, say, "official spokesperson of the Lisa-and-friends group"; I could make it public that I like pizza. Somewhere down the line someone could then say, "That Lisa-and-friends group was built on the ideas of Lisa - like the idea of liking pizza." The "idea of liking pizza" wouldn't be mine. That "idea" has been around for quite some time, and long before I ever arrived on the scene.
Some freaks and extremists in my "Lisa group" (and most groups, Liberals included, have their freaks and extremists) could then go out and do their own thing, spread their own ideas, and find some people who liked their ideas. If those freaks and extremists went out and started this own little sub-groups with their own ideas, they wouldn't particularly represent the "main" "Lisa group", although they'd have some ideas that were shared with it.
With the exception of Reagan, who was thought well of by people who weren't necessarily Conservatives; but whose popularity was always, necessarily, tied to his Conservatism and was often more tied to his political skills and personal way of doing some things; there are a lot of extremist, freaks, among the names you mentioned. That aside, the beliefs and character of "regular" Conservatives (who aren't particularly represented by some of the off-the-wallers and embarrassments that are out there today, claiming to represent all Conservatives) are not, in the vast majority of cases (I'd guess) rooted in bigotry - or in a sharing of some of those beliefs of those people who may, in fact, be/have been bigots.
A lot of the most well known (and, yes, most vocal) Conservatives either don't represent the thinking of "regular" Conservatives; or else may share some "stands" on some issues, but for different reasons. In fairness to even some of those off-the-wall Conservatives, even some of their ideas are often interpreted as rooted in bigotry when, in fact, they're rooted in something that has nothing to do with the name/face of one group or another, but everything to do with what many in that group do (for example, in the case of Mexican illegals; it's not necessarily about the nationality of the people, or even about having anything against them, personally. It's about the consequences such huge numbers of people coming over the border illegally have on things like government services).
Not wanting the government more in people's lives than it absolutely has to be has been around since the country began (and before). It's one of those "likes pizza" ideas that wasn't invented by people who showed up decades after the idea, itself, did. It's the same for a lot of reasonable, Conservative, ideas/philosophies that are rooted in concepts that have nothing to do with anything even close to bigotry.
Nobody with well reasoned and reasonable thinking believes that all the individuals under the label of any group "all think alike"; and most people with half-way sensible thinking realize that every individual in any group doesn't necessarily agree with everything the most vocal or prominent associated with that group believes.
So, no. The basis for Conservatism (at least for "regular people" is not rooted in, and doesn't have anything to do with, bigotry. Granted, among the wide variety of Conservative-thinking people there are some who are bigots. Sometimes, too, what look bigotry really isn't. It's just something that looks like it, because some people can't grasp the real roots and scope of one particular issue or another.
People who "have a clue" know that there are all kinds of "regular" Conservatives who are every bit as caring, compassionate, respectful, and altruistic as a lot of non-Conservatives are. A lot of times, it's basically a matter of wanting to accomplish the same kinds of things - but differing ideas on how to accomplish them. Other times, of course, the differences between the groups stem from not wanting to accomplish the same things. Either way, there's bigotry, nastiness, and ingnorance in the off-the-wallers of both groups.
Hope that clears things up, because as someone who "has Conservative leanings", I'm sick of seeing the widespread, misguided, ideas about "what all Conservatives are like". (And, by the way, a lot of Conservatives are equally ill informed/misguided about "what all Liberals are like".)
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