Paul Edward Snyder
Paul Edward Snyder's JournalPatronizing the Less Fortunate
“Usually it ain’t broken for wealthy white males…” is an astute evaluation of a Conservative conundrum,. …everyone else gets the short end of the stick” however is a blanket statement that simply is not universally true.
There is in all of us, especially wealthy white males, a feeling of entitlement, and your conclusion “…everyone else gets the short end of the stick” clearly shows that this feeling of entitlement is not limited to wealthy white males.
I suspect, however that you are not poor and in fact are well educated and enjoy comfortable circumstances. This may be unfair on my part, but I have found that the poor tend not to complain about their poverty, though they have every reason to do so. They seem to be more appreciative of what they do have than those who are more fortunate.
In fact (be aware that this is my cynical opinion of the irony of human despair) the more one has the more one seems to think one is entitled to have (a kind of parasitical expectation that others should serve their every whim and the world that does not even know they exist owe them more privileged circumstances than they now enjoy).
Often this feeling of deprivation is transferred onto the backs of the less fortunate who are then subjected to not only hunger, homelessness, helplessness and hopelessness, but the patronizing attitude of some rich kid.
I will not pretend that I, or any other Conservative (rich or poor), is trying to make this a better world. We simply try to make things work. It is in our nature, just as it in the hands of Liberals to experiment on ways to improve what already is. It seems to be in their nature, though little appreciated by too many Conservatives.
Sanitizing Satinizes
One of the most admirable things about the Democratic Party, in my opinion, is its openness to anyone who wishes to join the party, and its open-mindedness toward new, even old, though controversial ideas. Until recently even Conservatives were welcome,; and I certainly understand the antipathy towards anyone with the audacity to identify himself as Conservative given the rhetorical vitriol and open hatred spewed forth by Republicans (actually by those in the Republican Party who falsely, in my opinion, identify themselves as Conservatives; previously as Neo-Conservatives --- Neo meaning “not really”).
There is, however, in the Democratic Party a Liberal element who would like to see the Party purified. There is this element also in the Republican Party. They call themselves the Tea Party. The problem with purification is that it leads to obsessive behavior and unrealistic expectations. I have noticed this tendency over the past few years also in elements within the Christian Church calling themselves Evangelicals (I would quickly point out that this is not true of all Evangelicals, but it does seem true of the vast majority. I am deeply religious and have Evangelical friends to whom I consistently contend that sanitizing the Church Satinizes it --- justifying them in doing really reprehensible things.
I say all this because I seem to sense a tone of contempt in your request, but it does, of course, require an answer.
A basic premise of the Conservative Movement is “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” This, of course, creates the problem of discernment, a problem with which Liberals have confronted Conservatives with for very a long time. “How do you convince a Conservative that something is broken?” The answer is, “You can’t”. This is something about which a Conservative must recognize pretty much on his own, but once recognized as a problem, he will do everything in his power to fix it.
This brings us to the value of Conservatives. They are slow and they are obstinate (and far too often arrogant), but they are really good at making things work, partly because they are slow and obstinate (the arrogant part has questionable value).
I can expound further, if you like.
I am a Conservative
I left the Republican Party just after President Richard Nixon resigned. Although I did believe and still believe he was one of our finest presidents in spite of Watergate, My problem was with the John Birch Society’s influence on Republicans as they guided them away from the basic principles of Conservatism.
I immediately joined the Democratic Party as the best hope for Conservative ideals. The obsessives (radicals), it seemed to me, were moving out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican Party. Their objectives were different, but their blind commitment to a cause was the same; so much so that their present agenda seems downright anarchic.
I have been much impressed by the Democratic Party and especially by President Obama who seems to be the only person on Capitol Hill who is actually trying to govern this country. Even the Supreme Court has been radicalized to, in my opinion, the point of insanity.
If the Democratic Party can keep control of its emotions as it has done so well over the past fifteen years, I will remained a registered Democrat voting a pretty much straight Democratic ticket. I do however very much miss the Republican Party of my youth.
Would You Like Some More Tea, Sir
We united the fringes
Those without hinges
Thought we could tame them
Thought we could blame them
If hate did not sell
And spiteful rhetoric fell
On deaf ears
Igniting no fears
Among those held in contempt
By this heartless attempt
But should we succeed
Create a new creed
Then we could gloat
As we counted the vote
Celebrate our successes
Excuse their excesses
As signs of distresses
And glorified hatred
As sacred
As the thrust of the sword
In the coming of the Lord
Though they were without hinges
These erratic fanatics
Coming from fringes
Proved charismatics
Turned
On their masters
Spurned
Our disasters
Hubris had earned
Oh what the hell
Let the healing begin
Let the other side win
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Member since: Mon Jun 30, 2014, 04:21 PMNumber of posts: 15
