The Dying of the Right

The Right's goal has always been and continues to be to preserve and promote an oligarchy dominated by wealth, privilege and power. As civilization gradually disarms the Right with laws, this goal becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Civilization prevents the Right from using brute force and codified discrimination to achieve its goal, and it will eventually prevent the Right from using deception. When that happens, the Right - as it has been known for ages - will cease to exist. The writing has been on the wall for at least 228 years.

20th century fascism was the Right's attempt to break the shackles of civilization and enslave it in one fell swoop. The contemporary American "conservative" movement is using similar means to arrive at the same end. Apparently, the Right is still not convinced that humanity isn't its property. One can only guess how many more lives it's willing to waste before it's convinced.


(Originally posted as a response here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2883203 )

Civilization as the enemy of the right-wing!! The more civilized society becomes, the more progressive it becomes!

I see nothing in your post that would give me hope that the right is dying. In fact, I see nothing that gives me hope at all.

Things are becoming more and more progressive, 150 years ago there was still slavery. Just 40 years ago racism was legally enshrined.Today it is not socially acceptable to be racist. Until the 60' poor people just starved. The march of history is toward more popular involvement, more economic security. All the things the right wing hates. I agree with this post. It may not happen in our lifetime but it WILL happen. History may have many pendulum swings but the overall trend is toward more progressive societies.

But, I've never been able to put it so well. Nicely done!

we'll see your prediction come true. But I doubt it.

The right isn't dying, it's flourishing. There are way too many who are not wealthy, are not priviledged, and are not powerful, yet buy into the right's agenda. People's narrow minded selfishness will remain a very strong attractor for the right.

How long do you think they'll be able to maintain the deception? I don't think they can do it much longer.

This is from an article by Thom Hartmann:

The progress that Thom describes is directly opposed to the aims of the Right. From a historical perspective, it certainly appears that the Right is on its way out.

Edit: Rewrote last sentence.

YOU (and Thom Hartmann) ARE RIGHT.

Their deceptions will NOT last forever. There's only so long that you can sell our pick-up drivin', shot-gun totein', truck drivin' solid middle class Red Stater that he has much in common with the RICH.

What this boils down to is a LAND GRAB, only with short term wind-falls (like eliminations of the dividend tax).

There ARE other dangers such as all of the Intellectual Property laws that have & are being passed, all but eliminating a "public domain", but that's another story and unfortunately, all too complicated for those people that still can't figure out multiple tax rates and want it more "simple" so that the poor pay a higher rate and the rich pay much less, but "simple" is "fair".

Think of it like the S&L Bailout of the 90's - $500 billion. Who picked up the tab?

FORTUNATELY, we have TRUTH & REALITY on our side!

Now if only the DNC can get out of the pocket of big business, stop nominating the super-rich to represent us, we can start to restore our credibility...

On a personal note, I'd like to mention that I don't consider material wealth to be a measure of a person's morals, or their fitness to lead. That said, the fact that Kerry is "super-rich" was used against him to great effect by the Right.

and bingo was his name-o

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

The Right could have chosen the path of least resistance, and ensured its survival for a long time to come. Instead, it chose to bet all its chips and put itself on a collision course with civilization. The temptation was too great: to use the resources of the most powerful nation on earth to reverse the direction of civilization once and for all; to succeed where fascism failed.

The Republican Party is only speeding the demise of the Right. If it can't survive in the most powerful nation in the world, it can't survive anywhere else.

Tell me, which other developed nations are dominated by the Right?

could have been titled, "The End of the Right" - if he had chosen to make the opposite point with the same information.

The Constitution was written to preserve property and privilege. It is in the right's interest to support all laws serving that goal.

I think you are confusing "civilization" with the state. The state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, whether the state is controlled by the right or the left. And sadly, fascism was an outgrowth of the right and the part of civilization that it represented in an effort to channel the coercive powers of the state toward its desired ends.

Much as I abhor fascism, I can't agree that the right, ipso facto, is not a part of civilization just because I wish it were so. That's the way fundies of all stripes think, and it's what got * a second term.

And the right will always exist. At any given time and in any situation, there will be groups of people who want to stay the course and resist change, and there will be people who start out as reformers and become part of the system once they've changed it. In other words, today's left can become tomorrow's right.

So I think that rather than saying that the right will wither away, it may be better to say that a new left will be born as the old one gets co-opted. In any event, we're in for interesting times, as the Chinese curse goes.

that we live in a civilization? Do you think 'fascist civilization' is a possibility or an oxymoron?

I'm on the side of it being an oxymoron. And the present condition of this country strikes me as not civilization- it just looks rather like it on the surface and there are a few actual, well-hidden, pockets of the genuine article.

and the definition can vary. If fascism isn't a form of civilization, then what is it? Again, I'm not stumping for fascism, but part of it is a social arrangement like other more agreeable forms. As for the US being a civilization, you got me there. I tend to go along with Mencken's quip that Americans are the only people to have gone from barbarism to decadence without passing through civilization first--all the more reason to refute the assertion that US civilization will cause the right to disappear. The opposite is far more likely.

It's just the nicely organized version.

And when there is civilization, it will be conservative in the way liberalism is: about the essential things, not the totality of arrangements.

That's an interesting way of putting it. Here's the preamble to the Constitution, which is regarded as evidence of its origin, scope, and purpose:



It certainly is in the Right's interest to support all laws that preserve property and privilege. If you wish to conflate that goal with the purpose of the Constitution, that is your privilege. ;)


Perhaps you're the one confusing civilization with the state. Let's use these definitions:

Civilization - An advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions.

Civilized - To raise from barbarism to an enlightened stage of development; bring out of a primitive or savage state.


The argument isn't that the Right is not part of civilization; it's that the Right is fundamentally opposed to the direction in which civilization is naturally evolving. The Right is always welcome to go with the flow; after all, our government is designed to give differing viewpoints a fair and honest chance. Of course, a fair and honest chance is not enough for the Right; that's why it breaks every moral, ethic, rule, or law that it can get away with. The fact is, if the Right were honest about its goals, it would lose most of its political power practically overnight.


I'll stick with my observations, thanks, and I'll leave the despair to you. Happy New Year. :)

Unfortunately this will mean countless people harmed. People just don't seem to care at this point.