In my time, the idea of conservatism has been turned upside down. Men in my family wore neckties even when just reading the paper at home.
Conservatives such as Dwight Eisenhower were moderate and modest. Vice President Richard Nixon illustrated this by telling how his wife favored a respectable cloth coat. One could believe we had government of the people, for the people and by the people.
Our country had real upward mobility. There was a relatively smooth continuity from lower to higher income. Any one person's niche was within a spectrum of respectable achievement and better possibility, which encouraged hard work and hope.
Children seemed able to stand on their parents' shoulders and rise to greater heights. Of course there were political differences. But there was a balance between union organizations and business, and blue-collar workers could sustain and advance their families.
Now we have moved from dissension to outright division in our society. The poor are poorer, and the rich are much richer. The gulf between is wider than ever. And the workings of the Congress have moved from debate and compromise to dispute, disparage and standoff. Conservatives say, "My way or the highway!"
A lot of us are in pain: economic, social and personal pain. It is like a cloak of demoralization that suffocates our grasp of options, even our sense of what is wrong. It sponsors the yearning for a target.
The Republican primary candidates are roaring with energy, shining their flashlights into these dark corners to prove that their party is not at fault. Each one has a kind of answer. The conservative agenda is becoming radicalized.
Some thrash about at President Barack Obama, saying he is weak and a socialist. Others proclaim an urgent need for the leadership they want to offer.
They gloss over how their party reaches to craft stumbling blocks for every idea not its own, or how their own president ran the government from surplus into gaping deficit with two reckless wars on the charge card while reducing taxes for those most able to contribute.
The thrust reaches to entice the rich into rewarding politicians who help them garner their wealth. Political dependency and corrupt collusion with lobbyists are condoned.
Nevertheless, the dependency is "bad" when those forced into poverty have to rely on government benefits for unemployment or health or disability.
Those desperately going into debt for food are irresponsible and should tighten their belts and let their children go hungry. The Scrooge-like advice from the rich for the poor is too often such.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says his goal is to reduce deficits, but underneath this holy mantra is the determination never to raise taxes.
In the balancing of taxation with government services -- services are what he would cut. This hollow "freedom from government" tops freedom from hunger for the conservatives.
They seek to glorify the self-made man, as if leadership is not basically a collaborative achievement.
We have a society in which the wealthy are hoarding everything that their power allows, not what the constructive dictates of fairness would suggest.
The power of corporate employers wants never to be confronted by any corresponding coalition of working people. This worsens our dysfunctional disparity of incomes, of fairness and adds to the increasing division of our society.
So when you hear that the government is too big, know that programs provided to protect the health and well-being of average working Americans are being challenged.
Similarly the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was challenged by trying to prevent the appointment of a person to head the agency. Conservatives claim the agency is not accountable for its actions.
Mitt Romney divisively said that Jon Huntsman disqualified his candidacy by having been an Obama ambassador. Ron Paul unashamedly asserts that property rights trump human rights. Rick Santorum opposes "giving money to others who did not earn it," and Newt Gingrich suggests that food stamps go disproportionately to blacks (most, in fact, go to working whites). Perry wants to "take America back" from those who have "no work ethic."
What they all harangue about is the redistributive and regulatory governance we have constructed since the Depression.
As E.J. Dionne points out in The Daily Star published for the weekend of Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, the president's defense of principles that helped make ours a society for all also makes Obama the conservative candidate "in the truest sense of that word."
William Masters can be reached at wmasters@thedailystar.com. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily Star and its editorial board.
Columns
Government no longer about power of people
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
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My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
Ask any hospital administrators if they've ever heard of a closed hospital in New York state that has ever been re-opened. They will say, "Impossible." In a half century of going through records you can't find any.
Continued ... - Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
- Opera great's visit still a thrilling memory
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My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Cary Brunswick
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We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
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We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
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A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
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- Mark Simonson
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Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
You know an issue is divisive when a vote to resolve it is quite close. In Oneonta during the early 1930s there were probably plenty of discussions or arguments at the family dinner table or sermons from the pulpits on Sunday mornings, regarding whether or should be able to see a movie in Oneonta on Sunday.
Continued ... - Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
- Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
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- Rick Brockway
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
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Using time off in the worst way possible
"You don't mean it," I pleaded. "You simply can't mean it!"
Continued ... - Terror lives on, and there's no end in sight
- Remembering the glory of their times
- Column on guns led to a barrage of (mostly) jeers
- No one is coming to take your guns
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Using time off in the worst way possible
- William Masters
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
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Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
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Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
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Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
