First of all, CS, thank you for responding. I really do appreciate an earnest attempt to engage with me on this. I take you at your word that you are sincere. And with that, I have a few questions.
I think this is a side point, but I don't really understand that statement. Meaning, I don't know what you mean by it. He's Americana, like he's baseball and apple pie? He's nostalgia? He harkens back to a lost past America?
He is very sympathetic to conservatism but is not beholden to it. He is mainly a tool to fight back liberalism and globalism.
Would you say, then, that he's not really of your ideology?
The conservatism I hold to believes in pure unadulterated capitalism.
Wouldn't pure unadulterated capitalism be in favor of globalism? Isn't free trade a part of that?
I don't believe in crony capitalism where corporations use government regulations as a tool to harm their less capitalized competition
I think this is one that just about everyone agrees with, in principle. That is, I don't think anyone espouses crony capitalism as an ideal. So, it's the sort of thing you have to judge based on actual conduct since no one would actually come out in favor of it, and yet it still happens from time to time.
Did you hear about the small Montana company with close ties to Ryan Zinke that won a $300 million contract to restore power to Puerto Rico? What do you think about that deal? Doesn't that seem a little cozy?
What do you think about the trouble the government ethics office had getting Trump to follow a reasonable ethics policy and precedent?
, or as a means to fund their aspirations they cannot raise capital for themselves.
It's a $4.1 trillion budget. I think it is safe to say that in there is some spending that's someone's pet project, probably a lot of someones. But the thing is, what counts as a pet project versus one that's in the national interest is the subject of politics itself. Some people might say that a border wall is an unnecessary boondoggle that we shouldn't be paying for and that only a small portion of the population actually wants.
My conservatism believes in the sanctity of property rights in all of its various forms. It believed in unrestricted free speech no matter how offensive or dangerous it's perceived to be.
Ok. How do you square that ideal with Trump's threats and intimidations against critics, including media organizations, dating back many many years? Did you hear about his lawsuit against Bill Maher? Or, for that matter, his attacks on his would-be allies who express a hint of Independence, like Jeff Flake. I feel like Trump is antithetical to free speech.
My conservatism believes in the individual over the group regarding rights and I believe in every possible way to limit the power of the state and reserve all power to the individual.
I completely agree with the individual rights part of that. I don't think I'd go along with you for every possible way to limit government power just because it's a little too extreme for me, but I think the Bill of Rights is a very important tool, and that the courts have frequently and inappropriately chipped away at those protections in favor of official power and a sense of order even in the face of great injustice. That's why I support Black Lives Matter, for instance.
Again, thank you for responding. I hope that we can have a productive discussion.
:cheers:
