{"id":6430,"date":"2016-05-18T17:04:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T17:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/05\/18\/will-the-true-conservative-please-stand-up\/"},"modified":"2016-05-18T17:04:44","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T17:04:44","slug":"will-the-true-conservative-please-stand-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/05\/18\/will-the-true-conservative-please-stand-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the ‘True Conservative’ Please Stand Up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every morning I find a new batch of anti-Trump articles by so-called conservatives.  These anti-Trumpsters clearly see the man's many negatives, but most of them refuse to come clean on the question: "Do you advocate not voting for Trump thereby aiding and abetting a Clinton victory?  Yes or no?"<\/span><\/p>\n

Add to the list Michael Gerson who ends his 17 May Conservatives' Deal with the Devil<\/a> as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Conservatives latched on to the GOP as an instrument to express their ideals. Now loyalty to party is causing many to abandon their ideals. Conservatism is not misogyny. Conservatism is not nativism and protectionism. Conservatism is not religious bigotry and conspiracy theories. Conservatism is not anti-intellectual and anti-science. For the sake of partisanship — for a mess of pottage — some conservatives are surrendering their identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here is a little fair and balanced commentary on Gerson's outburst.<\/span><\/p>\n

True, conservatism is not misogyny.  And it is true that Trump has stupidly made misogynistic statements.  By alienating the distaff half of the electorate, it is is a good bet that the foolish man has sealed his fate. We shall see. But whether he is fairly described as a misogynist is not clear given his appointment of women to high positions in his organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

'Nativism' and 'protectionism,' like 'isolationism' are not neutral words.  They are pejoratives.  Suppose someone sees the failures and false assumptions of U. S. foreign policy and appreciates that some U. S. interventions make things worse instead of better.  If you wanted to describe such a person fairly and neutrally you would call him a non-interventionist, not an isolationist.  There are paleo-cons and neo-cons.  A paleo-conservative non-interventionism, which need not exclude judicious and well-thought-out interventions, has arguably a better claim on the  honorific 'conservative' than neo-conservative  interventionism.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The same goes for 'protectionist' and 'nativist.'  They are pejoratives.  People interested in a serious discussion ought to use neutral terminology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose you are neither a libertarian nor a leftist.  You appreciate that the U. S. is neither a shopping mall nor a job market.  It is a nation with a culture, a long tradition, and a commitment to a set of values including liberty, self-reliance, self-determination, and constitutionally-based limited government.  You appreciate that a nation has a right to preserve and protect its culture and resist its dilution let alone its "fundamental transformation."  Having this right, a nation has the right to protect itself from illegal immigration and a right to select those groups which it will allow to immigrate.  A nation has no obligation to allow immigration at all, let alone immigration of groups of people whose values are antithetical to the nation's values.  True, immigration can enrich a nation if the immigrants are willing to assimilate and embrace the values and traditions of the host country.  Ask yourself: are sharia-supporting Muslims immigrants of this kind?  The answer is obviously in the negative.  <\/span><\/p>\n

There is no net benefit to Muslim immigation.  Of course there are are wonderful individual Muslims. See my high praise<\/a> for Zuhdi Jasser.  But policies cannot cater to individuals.  <\/span><\/p>\n

'Nativism,' like 'racism,' is a term used by leftists and other destructive types to slander their opponents and pre-empt rational debate.   <\/span><\/p>\n

When people like Gerson employ the 'nativism' epithet they play the same filthy game as leftists.  So how conservative are people like him?  A conservative is not a leftist.  Nor is a conservative a libertarian.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it "religious  bigotry" to insist that subversive, sharia-supporting Muslims with no intention of assimilating and every intention of "fundamentally transforming America" not be allowed to immigrate?  Of course not.  It is just common sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

So who is the real conservative here?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
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\"\"<\/a>'Religious Profiling'<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Why the Left Will Not Admit the Threat of Radical Islam (Revised and Expanded)<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Zuhdi Jasser, Profile in Civil Courage<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Trump and the Contest to Control Conservatism<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>WATCH: Zuhdi Jasser defends Ted Cruz, says he is right about Muslim neighborhoods<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every morning I find a new batch of anti-Trump articles by so-called conservatives.  These anti-Trumpsters clearly see the man's many negatives, but most of them refuse to come clean on the question: "Do you advocate not voting for Trump thereby aiding and abetting a Clinton victory?  Yes or no?" Add to the list Michael Gerson … Continue reading “Will the ‘True Conservative’ Please Stand Up?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,26,119,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatism","category-immigration","category-islamism","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}