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
- Cary Brunswick
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Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
Continued ... - Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
- As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
- U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
- Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
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- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
Continued ... - Time to get off the bus and on the computer
- Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
- Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
- Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
- Lisa Miller
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
I am sitting cross-legged on the floor in the dressing room, waiting for Allie's dance number to be called. The cave girl costume has been donned, the jazz shoes double-tied, the hair pulled back, the requisite dab of lipstick applied.
Continued ... - Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
- Untethered from the cable box
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Mark Simonson
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
Continued ...
100 Years Ago - Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
- Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
- Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
- Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
- Rick Brockway
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
OUTDOORS COLUMN BY RICK BROCKWAY ... Last week, my friend George and I returned to the Gunks for another rock-climbing adventure. After last week's column, I asked about the rattlesnakes and was told not to worry. Rattlers are usually quite timid and will avoid people as much as possible. It's the copperheads that'll give you trouble. They're aggressive and will stand their ground to defend it. Oh great!!
- Rattlesnakes may be closer than you think, so pay attention
- Spring is here, so fishing should pick up soon
- Sneaky fox may be the next animal looking to horse around
- Pass down the rush of turkey hunting to your kids this weekend
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
- Sam Pollak
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I'm happy with our kids to a certain degree
It was several years ago, and I was in the kitchen, telling my eldest daughter and my then-teenaged son about the person who was taking over as publisher at The Daily Star.
Continued ... - I get by with a little help from my 'friends'
- It’s not easy for a politics junkie to get off the stuff
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica in print, unmourned by me
- Angelo Dundee was always a good man to have in your corner
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- William Masters
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
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War not worth gambling with lives of soldiers
Are you not tired of our war in Afghanistan? It had a point, once, after 9/11. Bush couldn't distinguish his myopic personal agendas from the nation's needs and let Osama escape, dropping the ball entirely, causing many deaths.
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Titanic was a microcosm of U.S. economic disparity
Haunting reminders of the Titanic tragedy have wafted over us with the centenary of its sinking. The maiden voyage of an impressive, state of the art vessel, was a little like that of the Challenger space shuttle, at the cutting edge of developing technology. But the shuttle carried our pride in science and space exploration, not hundreds and hundreds of people.
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William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
In February, Trayvon Martin was shot dead as "suspicious" by a volunteer neighborhood watch man. The case has aroused community reaction in Sanford, Fla., and is still echoing across the country.
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A quarterback can't win the game alone
What is the relationship between democracy and wealth? Democracy is a political system, while wealth relates to economics. We have equal political rights, but we don't all have money. Extreme differences destroy the continuity of community solidarity.
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
