# What things can conservatism NOT do without, when boiled down to its core?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [July 10, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839 "2023-07-10T01:33:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/41 "2023-07-12T18:09:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> No. Neither did his have flags on it.
I’m not sure what the point of your second sentence is. My point is that he might not have been as friendly to you if he knew you disagreed with him.
For that matter, if there were no displays of conservative/Republican allegiance on his truck, how do you know what his politics were?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/42 "2023-07-12T18:14:23Z")
I’m going with rural Western Pulaski county, AR.
I believe that illustrates that we can coexist if we don’t get in each other’s faces. Which includes bumper stickers and walking around Wal-Mart with firearms.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/43 "2023-07-12T18:21:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I believe that illustrates that we can coexist if we don’t get in each other’s faces. Which includes bumper stickers and walking around Wal-Mart with firearms.
If one side has to refrain from posting bumper stickers to get the other side to stop carrying guns in Wal-Mart, the other side is a bigger part of the problem.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/44 "2023-07-12T18:22:33Z")
But someone has to start. I don’t put stickers on my car, anyway.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/45 "2023-07-12T18:29:30Z")
I’ll repeat here what I said in [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-folks-just-not-accept-the-concept-of-giving-up-on-people/980035):
> The other day, I saw a truck with “TRUMP 2024 - F\*CK YOUR FEELINGS” in big letters. How should I establish a dialogue with that person?
>
> If you’re someone who listens to reason and can change your mind when shown that you’re wrong, you may be projecting when you think everyone is like that.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/46 "2023-07-12T18:32:25Z")
Of course. No everyone is anything. I do recall that he knew after she opened her mouth that she was a Yankee.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/47 "2023-07-12T18:32:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> But someone has to start. I don’t put stickers on my car, anyway.
You’ll start with that. Then it will be “don’t put signs for democrats on your lawn”. Then it will be “don’t advertise for democrats in any form”. Then it will be “no democrats in the primaries” Then it will be “no democrats allowed in the elections”.
Slippery slope argument for sure, but I don’t see Republicans giving you ONE SINGLE INCH. Ever. It’s a one way street with them. They hypocrisy about this does not even enter their minds.
You’ll give and give and compromise and compromise until you have nothing. That’s the end game for them.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/48 "2023-07-12T18:44:33Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> You’ll start with that. Then it will be “don’t put signs for democrats on your lawn”. Then it will be “don’t advertise for democrats in any form”. Then it will be “no democrats in the primaries” Then it will be “no democrats allowed in the elections”.
I don’t see how you figure that.
Precedent is, however, one reason they fear gun control. If we won’t let them walk through Wal-Mart with a weapon, the next step will to prevent them from keeping one at home.
See, we do think alike in some ways.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/49 "2023-07-12T18:53:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I don’t see how you figure that.
> Precedent is, however, one reason they fear gun control. If we won’t let them walk through Wal-Mart with a weapon, the next step will to prevent them from keeping one at home.
> See, we do think alike in some ways.
I propose a wager.
You carry a Biden sign at a Trump rally. And I’ll carry a Trump sign at a Biden rally.
First person to get his teeth punches out loses.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/50 "2023-07-12T19:15:15Z")
My plan is to not get in each other’s face.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/51 "2023-07-12T19:19:07Z")
> [@Akaj](#):
>
> It’ll start working any day now! You can’t expect an economic theory to prove itself in just 42 short years!
I had a epiphany a few years back: Trickle-down economics is to the Right what Communism used to be to the Left. An economic theory that sounds good in principle, but which fails all the time, because real people just don’t act in the manner the theory thinks they do.
The difference is, most left-wing people have given up on pure communism, while most right-wing people still worship trickle-down.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/52 "2023-07-12T19:30:01Z")
> [@Horatius](#):
>
> I had a epiphany a few years back: Trickle-down economics is to the Right what Communism used to be to the Left. An economic theory that sounds good in principle, but which fails all the time, because real people just don’t act in the manner the theory thinks they do.
When was the left adoring communism the was the right adores trickle-down economics? You can find an equivalence between the right trying to stop members of the communist party from working to make a living and feed their families like the way the left tried to stop people who supported trickle down economics from working and to make a living and feed their families, except the left never did that.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/53 "2023-07-12T19:40:28Z")
Is trickle down still a thing? He should have called it “flow down economics”, but then still bought it.
Tri-Polar orders a yacht, and my hardware store sells a whole bunch of nuts and bolts to the company making it.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/54 "2023-07-12T19:41:59Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> When was the left adoring communism the was the right adores trickle-down economics?
You have to go back a ways, but it’s there.
> **[Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Wing_Section_of_the_Socialist_Party)**
>
> The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year—the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party of America.
> A generalized Left wing had existed prior to 1919, but lacked organizational cohesion. The success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the end of World War I was an accelerant that made revolutionary socialism a...
And my point wasn’t about how each side _uses_ their flawed theories, it’s that they both have/had flawed theories.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/55 "2023-07-12T19:51:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> They are normal people until we call them deplorable, and then they call us names.
I only call them “deplorable” because they keep calling me “faggot.”
It’s nice that, as a straight white person, you were able to have a friendly interaction with another straight white person. Folks that don’t fit into those categories have a very different experience of these “normal people” than you do.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/56 "2023-07-12T19:56:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I think it is important to point out that the majority of self identified conservatives in this country are not bigoted, racist, homophobes, and they don’t understand why liberals hate them so much.
When Clinton said that that was about half of them, they all got offended, and then all started calling themselves “deplorables”. They ARE self-identified bigots.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/57 "2023-07-12T20:10:21Z")
> [@Horatius](#):
>
> And my point wasn’t about how each side _uses_ their flawed theories, it’s that they both have/had flawed theories.
Of course they do, but the left wing flawed idea of 100 years ago was a foolish belief in socialism that was never manifested in the economy. The right wing ideas of that time was laissez faire economics which sent the country’s economy into a tailspin. Comparing the left wing flirtation with pure socialism a century ago to the embrace of trickle down economics by modern conservatives is absurd.
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### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/58 "2023-07-12T20:10:25Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> My plan is to not get in each other’s face.
The problem is that they consider such things as going to the bathroom, or for that matter even existing as getting in their face.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/59 "2023-07-12T20:13:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Of course they do, but the left wing flawed idea of 100 years ago was a foolish belief in socialism that was never manifested in the economy.
Not in _our_ economy, no, but it did manifest in a lot of other places, and lots of Westerners held those places up as examples to be followed, even as they lagged behind the West.
Or did you forget about that whole Cold War thingy?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-can-conservatism-not-do-without-when-boiled-down-to-its-core/986839/60 "2023-07-12T20:14:15Z")
You mean like western Europe, or Australia, or Japan, or Canada, or pretty much anywhere else in the First World other than the US?
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