The End of Conservative Philosophy

As a record $1 trillion dollar stimulus package leaves Congress bound for Trump’s signature I am in many ways smugly amused.  Could there be a clearer announcement that conservative theory simply does not work?

Conservatives for years have opposed government “hand-outs.”  They have opposed all the safety nets passed by progressives such as social security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, etc.  (I suspect if women’s’ right to vote and own property and African American right to vote was put on the ballot the issues would fail to win a majority vote in most red states.)  Most recently the Trump administration has done all that they can to dismantle a program that provides health care for millions of Americans.  As recently as December Trump proposed massive budget cuts to social security and Medicare despite his promise not to do so.  (Oh well, we are not getting a wall funded by Mexico either.) 

Clearly, the Republican Party has stood for corporations over people, the rights of the wealthy over the poor, the rights of the evangelical Christians over all others, and promotion of economic development via reduced monitoring and restrictions on production that sacrifices consumer protection.  They have wrapped themselves in the flag and thumped the Bible and said conservative philosophy is best.  They have called themselves the party of family values.  They implicitly imply that God is on their side.  That has come to mean that they are the party that is willing to ignore the poor and the unemployed, the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the non-heterosexual, the people of color, women, children and the need for basic necessities like health care and public education.  Yes, business has prospered tremendously under this philosophy.  Until January.

Coronavirus happened.  Pandemic.  Worldwide.  Deadly for about 3.5% of the folks who contract the virus.  From China a virus was quickly spreading around the planet.  Trump had been briefed in 2017 of the risks of a pandemic, then he dismantled the Pandemic Planning Committee who was the group that warned him.  Why?  No one knows other than the fact Obama set it up and Trump was all about undoing everything Obama accomplished.  As the virus began to garner headlines our President said it was likely a Democratic hoax.  Then said it was no big deal.  Then said it would end via a miracle.  Then said it would go away with warmer weather.  Then said people could go to work if they had minor symptoms.  And the number of confirmed cases grew and grew, the death toll grew and grew.  Lacking federal leadership states and cities began to implement strategies to combat the spread of the disease.

Then suddenly in February Trump did an about-face.  He announces that he knows more about pandemics than anyone, he knew this was coming, he knew this was serious and he appointed Pence and Kushner to develop a plan.  No scientists, no infectious disease experts, no one from CDC or WHO.  Just two men with an anti-science perspective.

And the economy began to come to a halt.  The stock market fell more than it did in 2008.  People were laid off.  Stores were closing, restaurants were closing, even bars were hit hard.  The economic slowdown finally got the attention of Republicans.  It would be very difficult to wage a successful campaign in November if the economy looked more like 1929 than in 2019.  And we had what is clearly an admission of the failure of conservative politics.

Suddenly Republicans were talking a stimulus package to save the economy.  Not lives, but the economy.  Trump could have invoked the Defense Production Act and directed industry to produce masks, gloves, ventilators, but he has yet to do even that small measure.  And people are dying because of it.

Now Republicans are rushing to support checks sent directly to citizens, increased unemployment insurance, and bailouts for businesses.  They rushed to endorse classic Democratic Party economic philosophy.  They never mentioned the staggering national debt and how this package would make it even worse thanks to the tax cut for the rich. Nope, nary a word about debt.  But universal Republican support for handouts and safety nets. 

Herbert Hoover, Republican, overwhelmingly won the 1928 Presidential election.  He argued that what was good for business was good for the USA and business was thriving, the stock market was soaring.  And then in 1929 the market crashed and so did our economy.  Republicans were not as savvy then as they are now and Hoover insisted that the government cut spending as tax revenues declined.  Deadly dumb.  In 1932 FDR was overwhelming elected and began to implement the New Deal, massive government spending helping people, putting people to work.  The economy bottomed-out and turned around.  The economy really took off after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Now truly massive government spending began to resurrect the American economy.

But our wisdom is a victim of short-term memory.  It took progressive economics to stabilize the economy.  Once stabilized, folks returned to supporting conservative philosophies in the 1950s.  Likely the time Trump refers to as when America was great.  In 2008 the economy crashed again and the nation turned to progressive economic theory again.  Once bottomed-out and then recovering conservatives began to make a philosophical come-back.  The economy was improving in every variable from 2009 until 2016.  In 2016 Trump was elected and from the get-go took credit for the booming economy.  But, he has been nibbling at the source of our improvement ever since.  Tariffs, cuts to government programs that support people, eliminating the protections put in place after 2009 and generally undermining the economy.  The Obama boom was coming to an end courtesy of a return to conservative thinking.  The national debt sky-rocketed.  The disparity between rich and poor grew larger.  The safety nets were attacked.

Now, suddenly, another crisis and what do the conservatives do?  They implemented classic progressive Democratic economic theory in terms of a huge stimulus bill.  FDR would be proud.

Well, as of now, he would.  Conservatives could not help themselves even as they drafted a stimulus bill.  The money that would be distributed to every citizen was placed on a scale so that those making the least money would receive the least money and those making the most money would receive the most money.  The money that was targeted for business support was to be delivered to producers with no strings attached.  We witnessed what corporations did with the tax cut, laying off workers and increasing the pay of CEO’s, buying their own stock to increase dividends for shareholders, etc.  Fortunately, the progressives pointed out that the idea of a stimulus was right on target, but those making the least money should get the most and those making the most money should get the least, and that the money to businesses must be monitored so that the money is used to maintain the workforce and production.  Sadly, the Republicans did not include the Democrats in the development of the bill, but Democrats held firm that without those two changes they could not in good conscience support such a bill.  Republicans caved because they had to.  A failing economy will get all the Republicans kicked out of Washington so they used Democratic theory to stabilize the economy.  Funny that they began to blame Democrats for being a roadblock to the stimulus when Democrats were taking a moral stand for citizens and the workforce.  That point was not covered in conservative media.

Now we have a whole new twist in conservative philosophy.  A twist endorsed by the Lt. Governor of Texas, an uneducated former radio talk show host, by the President who claims he knows more science than the scientists and yet proves that remark to be false every day, and other conservatives as well.  The twist is, send people back to work even though they may get sick and die.  Unbelievable.

The conservatives have no answer to the economic dilemma other than the progressive answer.  Worse, they are hanging all their hopes on a strong economy in November, so much so they are willing to risk lives and spread the virus to accomplish that goal.

This is not a party of family values anymore.  From denial of the pandemic threat, to no real federal leadership regarding strategies to stop the spread, to abandoning the argument that the government should stay out of the market place to endorsing the notion that some Americans should be willing to die to improve the economy it is clear that the conservative philosophy is now corrupt, without moral foundation and without a coherent conservative response to the pandemic.  Worse, they continue to support a man who represents the antithesis of family values and who takes pride in his lack of support of science in a time of huge challenges that only science can answer.

I find it amusing that Trump’s approval rating has soared to 49% and there is celebration in the red hinterland.  What a hoot.  The man did not have majority support on the day he was elected or on the day he was inaugurated and now as he approaches 50% he does so because he is taking credit for no plan and a stimulus.  I believe Americans will eventually see through this bozo and toss him out.  If Republicans had real integrity they would have done so when the impeachment proceedings moved to the Senate.  But they caved for the sake of political expediency and power abandoning their values.

There has always been philosophical tension in our country between the “all men are created equal and have unalienable rights,” and the market economy which guarantees that wealth and rights are not equal.  In times of crisis when lives are at stake, we have always turned to the people protection clauses rather than the market economy.  This crisis is no different.  Why we have such a hard time continuing that foundation in times of prosperity remains a great mystery to me as the only rationale for such a foundation I can see is selfish greed.

The conservative philosophy has morphed into an amoral, ineffective belief system that is hurting Americans.  It is time to stick a fork in it.  After you wash the fork and your hands.