The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72144   Message #1240173
Posted By: Jim Dixon
04-Aug-04 - 10:15 AM
Thread Name: BS: What You Believe to be a Republican
Subject: RE: BS: What You Believe to be a Republican
Those are some of the current manifestations of Republicanism, but they fail to capture the underlying philosophy. Some of those "beliefs" are merely expedient excuses meant to help Bush get reelected. They fail to reveal why conservatives want Bush reelected. To understand that, you've got to understand conservative ideology, which will still be here long after everyone has forgotten about George Bush:

Rich people do wise things with their money that benefit the economy. Poor people do stupid things with their money that don't benefit anybody, even themselves. Therefore rich people deserve to have even more money so they can do even more beneficial things. (This might seem to imply that poor people will have less money, but that's wrong, because "a rising tide lifts all boats.")

Poor people need to be kept alive so they can continue working for rich people and paying taxes—but just barely.

Poor people need to have the example of rich people before them to give them an incentive to work; otherwise, they'd just be lazy. Also, poor people need to be told that anyone can become rich just by working hard and spending their money wisely. In other words, rich people are just people like themselves who have worked harder and made better decisions. Anyone who tells you differently is just promoting envy and class warfare.

True, some rich people have inherited their wealth, but you can't eliminate the ability of people to pass on their wealth to their children, because that would reduce the incentive to become wealthy in the first place (and that would be wrong).

Anyway, rich people pass on their virtues to their children, so you needn't worry that anyone will get rich who doesn't deserve it.

And regardless of how rich people became rich, they continue to invest their money and employ poor people. That's called "creating jobs," and that's good.

We mainly need George Bush because he will continue to uphold the above principles, and therefore any propaganda that helps him get reelected is justified.