Would they vote for a woman? Sure, but not that bitch (wink smirk back-slap guffaw). They think the unarmed black men and women who were murdered surely did something to deserve it, and they have thin blue line bumper stickers broadcasting that opinion. They think she wanted it, should have known better, or blew the whistle the next day.
They complain that their taxes are too high and in the next breath they complain that government services benefit everyone but them. They assume any profit or accolade earned by the poor or non-whites is illegitimate. They want to run the government “like a business” and then after making deep cuts to revenue they cannot figure out why the government “business” is insolvent. And so on.
When I get a whiff of this macho-scented claptrap, I challenge myself to find representative examples of conservatism throughout history, attempting to identify conservative greatness that has withstood the test of time. I take examples not only from the viewpoint of American white men, but also from the viewpoint of any in power working to smother the growth of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
fortunes on the backs of slaves
controlling female beauty
female sexuality
educating women
feet
pubescent girls’ clitorises
male servants’ testes
the ten commandments
crucified and tried to silence Jesus
the Earth was flat
for his theory that the Earth orbits around the sun
non-white lands and peoples
of King George III
the Constitution
égalité, fraternité
deaf to the Trail of Tears
comprehending Darwin’s theory of evolution
to the USA
people fighting for their country
votes by any means necessary
citizens running for office and serving their communities
and enforcers of Jim Crow segregation laws
statues of traitors and terrorists in our public squares
transportation
Pablo Picasso
immigrants
running for office
voting
prohibition of alcohol
black business district in Tulsa
of sharecroppers meeting to unionize in Elaine
Security
kill Medicare, in spite of how well run and popular it is
keep the US from entering WWII
internment camps
of Emmitt Till
play sports against black people
doing all the housework
driving
civil rights is a not problem
black children with fire hoses and attack dogs
the Beatles
invasion of Vietnam
Ali’s religious beliefs
marriage
marriage
and girls playing sports (this one really angers Magaish incels)
the environment
in safe conditions
and preventing brain injuries
trickle-down economics
dancing in Footloose
enforcing Apartheid
spread of HIV
Donna Martin graduating
unrestricted gun massacres
single mothers
children of single mothers
seat belts
energy
stop the beat (you can’t stop the beat!)
to justify invading Iraq
fighting for their country
why they are not getting any
marijuana is a gateway drug (yes, they’ve tried it)
marriage (until one of their loved ones wanted to get married to a same-sex partner)
Kaepernick
protest against the murder of unarmed black men
USWNT
thousand different ways to fudge calculations of equal pay for equal work
unlimited cash payments to elected officials from ultrarich donors and lobbyists
defund and diminish public education
women
black and brown people
foreigners
gays and lesbians
transgendered people
advanced education and job training
for everyone
wall street
main street
indentured servitude of appointees to the federal judiciary
owning their own bodies
American immigrants
immigrants
climate change does not exist
opioids are not devastatingly addictive
that opioids are immensely profitable
insurance company profits
medicines with monopolies and hundred-fold price hikes
refugees as humans
employees a living wage
favor of giving away trillions in tax revenue to the richest of the rich
the switch during a global pandemic
of George Floyd