I wish this were a joke.

[velvetpage]

Help, Mom, there are Liberals under my bed!"

I should write a sequel. "Help, Mom, My Health Insurance Premiums Cost Twice as Much as my Profits!" Or maybe, "Hey, Mom, Those Gays Buy Lots of Lemonade!"

Comments

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

OMG, I might have to make my own post about that. I think it's hillarious.

Although I think the overarching problem is the trap we have all fallen into is demonizing the other side. How can you work together and reach compromise if kids (and adults!) are taught all liberals (and liberal ideology) or all conservatives (and conservative ideology) are "bad"? I think there is a lot of good (and of course, bad) in both camps. *shrug*

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Oh, so do I. I think there's a lot of value in the idea of pushing people to achieve their best and take responsibility for their actions, which is at the heart of conservative values. Meanwhile, I love the liberal idea that we can all support each other to maintain a basic standard of living. I can see many of the pitfalls of both systems, and I'm not sure we'll ever find one that is perfect.

[paka.livejournal.com]

the idea of pushing people to achieve their best and take responsibility for their actions, which is at the heart of conservative values

I've never seen it that way. That is a human value, and I do not think liberals have ever wanted to jetison that. The conservatives have failed, time and time again, to actually push people to achieve their best and take responsibility for their actions. It's leftists, and not right-wingers, who represent accountability.

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

I thought this (http://www.etherzone.com/2004/tuma122004.shtml) was an interesting - and accurate - take on it. This is fundamentally what I, personally, believe, and I consider myself a conservative.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

According to that, I believe in the third and the fifth, and that's all. Not too surprising, really.

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not surprised at all. :)

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

"Fascism is not conservatism. It is left-wing socialism with bombs and machine guns."

Fascism is left-wing? Umm... does the author of that piece also have trouble figuring out which shoe to put on which foot? Wow. I'm sure all the leftists who have been murdered by fascist governments throughout the years would be very interested to hear that.

"Statism is Leftism"

Wow, somebody better go tell the anarchists!

"The second necessary ingredient for a conservative is a belief in national sovereignty and isolationism"

National sovereignty kind of steps outside the whole liberal vs. conservative divide, I think. It's certainly not owned by conservatives, which is obvious to anyone who has studied Canadian politics, especially in recent years. Quite the opposite, really.

"Yes, conservatives do believe in a strong national defense--but national defense as mandated by the Constitution and the Monroe Doctrine. An invasive military empire is not mandated. Therein lies a crucial difference."

The Monroe Doctrine has been used as a method of expanding the American empire, actually. National defense has had little to do with it, though it has given the American govt. a convenient excuse to invade their neighbours.

"There is a large anarchist wing within the libertarian movement"

Um, no. Most anarchists can't stand libertarians, actually, due to their slavish devotion to capitalism and their hypocritical relationship with the state (especially w.r.t. propping up capitalism). I don't think the author actually knows what an anarchist is, mind you.

Despite the egregious errors above, the rest of his idea of what conservatism is -- traditional conservatism, anyway -- seems pretty accurate. There is also the distinction between fiscal and social conservatism, which is important, I think. Most Canadians have some respect for the former and very little for the latter, in my experience.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely with you on the liberal idea. With the conservative idea...yes, people should be pushed to achieve their best and take responsibility for the things that are actually their fault, but it seems to me that a lot of things that conservatives want to push people to 'take responsibility' for aren't actually their fault. I guess I'm just soured on the concept because I spent so much of my life being told to 'be more responsible' and 'try harder', and believing that I was irresponsible and not trying hard enough, when the reality was that I had an undiagnosed and untreated neurological disorder (ADHD, inattentive subtype) which was causing the so-called irresponsibility.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the pitfall, isn't it? Or there's, "You got pregnant, now you have a responsibility to this baby," completely ignoring the fact of the date rape that led to the pregnancy.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

Especially when young women are discouraged from taking preemptive responsibility to prevent pregnancy because the Pill is falsely accused of being an abortifacient.

[mairesue.livejournal.com]

Virtues of capitalism, like raping and pillaging the earth and its peoples.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

There ARE virtues of capitalism - it's just that, the more you open that capitalism up to "whatever you want to do, however you want to do it," the more raping and pillaging of all kinds ends up happening. Canada is still essentially a regulated form of capitalism as its economic system, and liberal socialist as its political system, and for the most part it works pretty well.

As Merlyn said - there's no good reason to demonize either side, though we may make infinite fun of stupidity like this book.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Been there, had that done to me. You're always welcome to rant about your kids in my journal. :)

[mairesue.livejournal.com]

You are right demonizing either side is stupid and fruitless like everything in life it is all about balance...but it is so hard to read the virtues of capitalism with out having a knee jerk reaction (well it is for me) when our whole world is suffering from the affects of trying to make a buck. There is no balance - it all comes down to the bottom line and families suffer (yes, now I am sounding like Dr James Dobson- put me out of my misery), our environment, our culture, our time.

Okay, I am a wee bit cranky because Buster just turned the computer off and I lost my whole entry and I do not have time to write another one. My whole computer time was a freakin' waste. - Sorry - bit of an out burst there.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

That is what I call an overdose of capitalism.

Capitalism without something to restrain it is going to rape and pillage. So will Communism, in its own way.

For that matter, an excess of anything will result in a disaster. Unrestrained democracy results in people voting for bread and circuses along with the good stuff. An unrestrained dictator is a classic problem.

Whether by morals, ethics, laws, honor, or good sense, it's necessary to avoid running to extremes.

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

Any kids whose parents expose them to crap like that are going to grow up and rebel... probably become gay pagan terrorists or something.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

One can only hope.

[mairesue.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes that is a very real possibility. :D
http://ogambear.livejournal.com/profile
for example :D

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

Or, "Help, Mom, I'm an idiot!"

The broccoli sounds like a good idea.

[grrl-next-door.livejournal.com]

OMG... I can't believe this exists

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Please, please tell me it's not being recommended on Godlygals.

[grrl-next-door.livejournal.com]

hahahahhaha!!!!
I didn't even think of that. Maybe it will be the next book for the book club (after "Be Intolerant", it leads up to it well)... ;)