Yesterday I tried in my very best loopy-liberal reasonable voice to explain what liberals are, their inherent characteristics and flaws, and the reasons we should not simply shoot them on sight. So today I will try to make the case for what I believe conservatives are really all about and why we should not automatically shoot them either (or shoot them with automatic weapons so that Ted Cruz can cook more machine-gun bacon.)
Remember, I explained liberals and liberal philosophy as being an instrument of change. And I identify myself as a liberal in these times of the Trumpster, Chaos Clown of Making America Sweat Again. I think change is needed. I had hoped for that with Obama, but the conservatives were victorious in their primary function of preserving the status quo. Now, I do think there are times in history when conservatives were absolutely essential to our government. The 1950’s is a good example of that under the Eisenhower Administration. (But not for social reasons like the struggle for equal rights, rather the economic situation of growth and innovation and positive spirit… along with the invention of Rock and Roll.)
Conservatives are meant to preserve what is workable and good, beneficial to all. Unfortunately, some conservatives fall into the trap of wanting to preserve their own power. That leads down dark paths to Fascism. In my cartoon of conservatives immediately above, I should point out that I have included only the cartoon characters that have fallen at least partially into the Fascist tiger trap.
George Herbert Walker Bush is the son of Prescott Bush, a politician and banker whose New York UBC bank (he was president of the bank at the time) in 1942 had funds confiscated from it on the grounds that it was Nazi money funding the Nazi party in Germany and allowing the funny-looking failed painter from Austria with the toothbrush mustache to become the ultimate Fascist leader.
George W. Bush, his son, also known as Lonesome George the Rodeo Clown (mainly by me), continued the Nazi tradition by introducing the Patriot Act, reducing American civil liberties and establishing the surveillance state that we now enjoy.
Definition of Fascism from Webster’s;
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often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
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a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>
Richard Nixon had a direct link to the good conservativism of President Eisenhower, having been Ike’s Vice President and even being related by marriage as Nixon’s daughter married David Eisenhower. But he also had a streak of paranoia and panic that caused the entire Watergate kerfluffle and his eventual flight from power into ignominy.
Donald J. Trump is, to be fair, still pretty much an unknown quantity. But everything he has demonstrated in his business history and presidential campaign suggests he will be an even stronger Fascist than anyone I have named so far. He puts on a show like P.T. Barnum, and horrifies and fascinates his audience. But we never made the mistake of electing a liar and a con man like P.T. Barnum to the highest office in the land before. And the paranoia and excuse-making through denial of reality we have seen so far in the Russian hacking scandal, makes me fear the worst. Trump is more paranoid than Nixon. He will probably do much worse things than Nixon did as a result.
The KKK has a place in my cartoon because their history is one of trying to preserve the status quo through violent repression and terror campaigns. Their suppression tactics are the same as the Nazi brown-shirts on Krystallnacht and the Gestapo throughout WWII. And through the Steve Bannon connection, the KKK has a firm grip on the underlying philosophies of the Trump Administration.
So the possible end point of the conservative push toward Fascism is the same sort of chaos you get on the far left end. The leftist idea of constant revolution ends in violence or Fascist dictatorship. Fascist dictatorship squeezes everything it tries to control so hard that it breaks, and Fascists try to control everything.
So, I fear both ends of the political spectrum.
Though I apologize to Bernie. I would’ve voted for Bernie. He was just the farthest left Joker meme I had to choose from for this metaphor.
As you have probably guessed by now, I intend to write one more post about this whole mess of political nonsense. I have talked so far about the doom on both ends of the horseshoe, and so far ignored the middle, the part that holds the good fortune. So, being well over 500 words once again, I will leave you until my next horrible political post about the world just prior to the Apocalypse.
Catch a Falling Star 
Explaining the Words
I used to have political arguments all the time with my father that would end only in frustration… for me. He was happy to see his offspring boiling over ideas with smoke coming out of both ears. Because no matter what I said, he would always take the opposite position just to oppose me. I know this because I tested it. I would counter an argument he had just made by rephrasing it so that it was in different words, but meant exactly the same thing he had just said to me. Naturally he came up with opposing views immediately. One time I even flat out stated, “I agree with you!” Which naturally led to an immediate and complete reversal of the position on his part. I think now that he was training me to think more deeply about things than just parroting talking points heard on television. Either that, or he really really loved to argue.
The most important thing I learned in the endless arguments about Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Two Bushes, and Bill Clinton was that you have to establish the meanings of the terms you are using. Hence the reason for this post.
The words that made the most difference in my discussions with my father were “liberal”, “fascist”, “conservative”, and “communist”. When my dad used those terms, “conservative” always meant “good guys” and the other three words meant “bad guys”. But when I listened to the policies and concerns he wanted to talk about, whenever he said the word “conservative” he was really saying “moderate”. And because he was pretty much in the center of the political spectrum, he thought of fascists and communists as being the same thing. If my father ever was truly wrong about anything political, it was when he followed Ronald Reagan’s affable, smiling “Morning in America” politics towards the far right and abandoned the moderate principles he held dear. He had been deceived by Nixon, and regretted it… in fact, we all were deceived and we all regretted it. But that did not prevent him from being deceived by later Republicans. We both have had a long-standing admiration for President Eisenhower, Senator Bob Dole, Senator Chuck Grassley, and Senator John McCain. They represent the moderate wing of the Republican Party. But the GOP has marched relentlessly towards fascism and oligarchy of the rich, and we both feel that has tainted both Grassley and McCain. My dad ended up voting for Barack Obama twice. Obama, to him, is Eisenhower reincarnated. The problem, we both agree, has come anytime American politics have moved away from the center.
So let me begin defining terms by ridiculing the Loony Left.
Being liberal means promoting change. Hence, the Marxist devotion to revolution and the desire to have an on-going revolution of constant change. Unfortunately constant change is another way to define chaos. That is the main reason that communist-socialist experiments have generally ended in violence, economic collapse, and fascist-type strong-man oppression. The poor raggedy communist in my cartoon, standing on the left end of the spectrum is always doomed to poverty and violent death. If you don’t believe that, just ask Leon Trotsky if it isn’t so. Oh, wait, you can’t. Stalin had him murdered. Stalin ended the Russian experiment by cracking down on everything, making himself the antithesis of actual socialist ideas. I included the ultra-liberal philosopher and hedonist Alistair Crowley on this end of the spectrum because he fought against all social norms and rules. That sort of religion leads to sexual depravity, vice, and corruption to a degree that got Crowley labeled “the Most Evil Man Who Ever Lived” in a BBC documentary.
Sometimes being liberal is needed desperately. Then you get the kind of liberal change agents that JFK was (and thankfully, LBJ carried out his liberal changes to an American society crippled by racism and xenophobia). Martin Luther King Jr. was also that kind of agent of change. Bernie Sanders is a parallel agent of change to JFK in that Barack Obama’s policies are almost a mirror image of Eisenhower’s in the 1950’s. What the media today labels as a liberal is equivalent to moderate Republicans before Nixon. Very similar changes are needed in social and economic areas today. We have yet to see if Sanders can get elected in 2020 and then assassinated shortly thereafter.
You can probably tell that this article is not yet complete. I have a lot more loony liberal pontificating to do (and please note, I said “pontificating” not “defecating”. I am not a Trump voter.) But I am well past the 500 word goal for today, and so, I must leave the rest of the crap to be said in a part two article. Maybe also a part three. Please stop me before I reach part twenty-six.
I do so enjoy making fun of Trump and his tiny, tiny hands. So here I am sharing another lampoon at the expense of the Great Orange Face of America.
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