2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Hillary has spent most of her political career denying she's a liberal [View all]Armstead
(47,803 posts)Last edited Mon Sep 7, 2015, 11:51 AM - Edit history (1)
The ills you are referring to from the GOP are all true. But there are several aspects to that which are important. In order to compete against the opposite side (GOP/Conservatism) you have to understand the positive aspects, and why it appeals to people.
Liberal/Progressive and Conservative/Libertarian both reflect two sides of human nature -- Self interest and the common good. We all have a mix of each one. No one -- even staunch liberals, for example, LIKES paying taxes or having their personal freedom limited. Even staunch conservatives believe there is a role for government, such as common defense. Politics is the public expression of that push-and-pull.
Each party does have to position itself both "for" the values it claims to represent and against those in contrast. That is the source of strength of the GOP. They are not only "for" freedom, etc, but against "big government liberals" etc. They lie about the things they are against.
The GOP since Nixon have been hypocritical on the personal level, but totally consistent in terms of Wealth and Power. By that, I mean the fundamentalist, anti-abortion, authoritarian aspects are totally contrary to the principles of actual Conservatism. The GOP used those as a "edge" to con people to their side. The Libertarians are the only real conservatives these days. But the GOP/Conservatives are totally consistent in the Wealth and Power issues.
But on a more basic level, the FOP stood for Self-Interest/Conservatism but the Democrats failed to stand up and defend the "common good" side sufficiently, except on nebulous terms. And when the so-called "centrists" like the Clintons joined the GOP in criticized things like "Bg Giovernment" they were playing right into the hands of the GOP and their false assumptions. -- INSTEAD OF challenging them.