A party to fear

Conservatives are, by definition, a party of fear, a party to maintaining the status quo at the expense of positive change because of the inherent risk. They fear the present in all its manifestations. The time the conservatives are most comfortable is 10 or 20 years ago in the good ol' days.

For clarification, that's an essential difference with liberals/progressives who seek change and improvement. Liberals want education, enlightenment, scientific research, serious debate.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of these basic ideas. Fear is an obvious compatriot of hate. Fear is the root. Hate is a manifestation. Courage is the opposite of fear. It is based on principles that trying to overcome that which you fear is more important than your immediate safety. It's a longer term strategy that seeks benefits in the future rather than comfort in the short term.

One party is so enmeshed and inflamed in fear right now and the flames are being fanned constantly by their leader. We often use blindly to acknowledge a leader whose followers trust them completely. This group takes 'following blindly' to a whole new level. They have a leader who lies to them and lies about lying. This is a leader who cherry picks facts and embellishes said facts until they are lies. That's on his good days. When he's real bad he just makes something up.

So this group of people has a platform of fear on a bedrock of lies. Their media mouthpiece turns journalism on its head. It's a corporate propaganda machine in a capitalist regime. This regime uses such a ruthless version of capitalism that the only reason they give more funding to the VA is to get more funding for the military industrial complex. So this corporate entity provides cover for the regimes foibles.

I want to get back to values here. I value courage. I value caring for others less fortunate and sharing that burden reasonable across the economic spectrum. I value improving society thru change. I value education, research, enlightenment.

Liberals believe in the possibilities of the future. Conservatives believe in the safety of the past.