After seeing @What_Exit explain how to do … exactly this (create a new topic from an existing post) a few times, I thought I’d give it a whirl.
@Sherrerd offered up one of my favorites from David Frum:
If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
Frum has a whole bunch of good ones:
Also offered up already:
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
–Frank Wilhoit
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
–John Kenneth Galbraith
I use the Galbraith quote to begin a post I’ve offered elsewhere. It goes on thusly:
Trump – like other RW demagogues – has tremendous appeal to the mouth-breathers, because he tells them that they shouldn’t have to care about less fortunate people, the planet, the environment, or minorities.
He doesn’t ask them to be ‘better people’ in any way, shape or form, the way that most past Presidents have. He encourages them to be proud of their baser instincts and worst qualities.
In short, he applauds them for their “religiosity” while simultaneously absolving them from any need to actually be decent human beings.
[END]
Great thread idea! It’s good to have these in one place.
It’s also an ideal place to discuss that current American issue: what is to become of the Republican party, now that it has subsumed itself in Trumpism? Trumpism, fairly plainly, would be rejected by the best-known (and perhaps best-respected, at least by some) conservatives of history.
“There have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people, too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, and nastiness so stupid.” - Someone on the SDMB?
“Those that can make you believe absurdities can make you commit and accept atrocities.” - Voltaire
“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.” - H L Menken
“In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.” H L Menken
“When you are accustomed to privilege, equality seems like oppression.” - Someone on the SDMB
“Fear and hate are strong motivators. The great unwashed masses love Trump because he hates the same people they do, and the Republican politicos follow him because they are afraid of what will happen to them if they don’t.” - Someone on the SDMB
Imagining far-reichers attempting the inverse (Great quotes about liberalism) on one of their messageboards and realising they can’t come up with even one cogent quote. “Funny how governments never get anything done - BECAUSE THEY’RE DURRRR DEEP STATE!!! HA!”
Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.
– William E. Gladstone
Conservatism should be a reality-based philosophy, and the movement will be better off if it recognizes that facts really do matter.
– Charlie Sykes
Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.
I have to disagree with David Frum. They haven’t abandoned the label of “conservatives”, but they sure have rejected conservatism in favor of reactionary radicalism (and on occasion just naked radicalism).
“A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”
“I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”
“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”
“Pentagon ought to win the Nobel Peace Prize every year, because the U.S. military is the world’s foremost guarantor of peace”
“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.”