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Edited on Fri Nov-28-03 08:54 AM by Spider Jerusalem
Now, I know what you're probably thinking: "Is this guy smoking crack? Conservatives not evil? Has he not been paying attention?"
Oh, but I have been paying attention. And I've concluded that the current group of extremist lunatics who've taken over the government of the US aren't really conservatives. Fascists, perhaps, but not conservatives. There are conservatives I respect, while disagreeing with them; admittedly, it's a short list.
Conservatives whom I can respect and even in some instances admire (not all American, and not all living): Winston Churchill; Barry Goldwater (pro-choice, in favour of allowing gays to serve in the military, etc.); Ron Paul (prominent critic of the war in Iraq and the erosion of civil liberties); Pat Buchanan (also a prominent conservative critic of the Bush administration); and (oddly enough) Charlton Heston, who, in despite being head of the NRA, was a civil rights activist who has said that passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was "the proudest moment of my life".
What these people have in common is a dedication to the basic principles of the rule of law; of justly constituted government as the only acceptable sort; of a healthy opposition party as essential to the proper functioning of any democratic society; and of the inviolability of the rights of all people (well, probably not Buchanan, but the rest applies even to him). Contrast this with the oft-stated views of the extremists who now hold the reins of government; I'm sure you'll agree the difference is striking.
To label Bush and his gang of thugs, militarists and deranged Ayn Rand disciples as "conservative" is to lend their views a respectability of which they are undeserving; we should call them what they are: totalitarians.
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