Quote (thesnipa @ Jun 15 2021 11:28am)
the simple fact is that the only reason progressive ideology isnt just unarguably and objectively better of a path is because they tend to go too far with their called for action. conservativism by nature is simply a skeptical and scared ideology that is only useful as a check on power of progressive ideas, that at their core are largely the right direction for society and the country. it is only due to the binary political meta that conservatism is allowed to persist, as they have almost zero useful ideas for the direction of the country beyond 5 years in the future. it's the party of the now, with ideas for the now, and shooting down moon shot ideas for the then. the fact that its been infiltrated with identity politics gives them even less use for america. they'll persist all the same, as an anchor persists on any boat.
Whether you think Reaganism was positive or negative, it had a clear objective and direction for the country. A strong military, a robust economy unencumbered by regulation, and a government in support of traditional, decentralized social power structures. That has been the conservative party within American politics for a generation.
Identity politics has entered center stage because the American left has abandoned the principles of bipartisan American liberalism. They are at war with the foundations of American and European civilization. I don't find comparisons, drawn by Chinese immigrants, to the Cultural Revolution all that dramatic anymore. The American right is only now waking up to the threat. It's unfortunate that there is no political talent at present to shape that burgeoning awareness in a productive direction.
Quote (IceMage @ Jun 15 2021 11:18am)
I've already articulated what I'm arguing against.
Do you think historians became progressive the last few years, or that they've been that way for decades? You're using something that's been true for quite a while, historians leaning progressive and judging presidents in a way that offends the conservative sensibility, as a justification for the right-wing effort to discredit any American institution it can. There's no institution you guys won't touch... even the military is getting attacked these days.
As I said in a different thread, these institutional biases have existed for decades, but they've become significantly more overt in the past ten years, and kicked into overdrive with Trump's election. We are entering uncharted territory where universities are establishing committees to police academic research and journalists proudly proclaim themselves ideological advocates rather than arbiters of fact. Personally, I think it goes along with the decline of religion. We are trying to substitute one Truth for another. The last time we tried this was in the 1910s with Communism and the 1930s with Fascism, and I'm sure we all remember how that turned out.