zlacker

>>YeGobl+(OP)
I’m always confused why conservatives tend to support the death penalty. The conservative ethos is to reduce the power of the state to prevent abuse, but giving the state the right to kill a citizen clearly goes against that. How can you mistrust the state in almost every aspect of society, yet trust it to only kill people that “deserve” it?

>>dimal+zl
> The conservative ethos is to reduce the power of the state to prevent abuse

It's not. Maybe you're thinking of libertarianism? The conservative ethos is to preserve and promote a social hierarchy. This requires both winners and losers.

>>lapcat+Ym
> It's not.

Limiting the power of government is a central idea in conservative thought, especially in America[0].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_Sta...

>>d-z-m+5r
That's what they may claim, but their actions speak much louder than their words. Just look at what happens whenever they take political power. They profess "local control" when they only have control of the localities; when they achieve power at the state or federal level, they immediately place restrictions on the ability of localities to set their own rules and laws. (I've seen this happen over and over.) And traditionally over the decades, conservatives have been and continue to be the biggest proponents of censorship: in schools, in the media, in businesses, etc.

I think the fairest thing to say, from that Wikipedia article, is this: "Conservatism in the United States is not a single school of thought." "The history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and competing ideologies".

Limit government interference in the market? Yes.

Defund the police: Hell no.

Defund the military: Mostly no.

Defund the IRS? Hell yes.

Let anyone who wants to marry get married? Let anyone who wants to have an abortion get an abortion? Go burn in hell.

It really varies depending on the issue.

I would claim that these apparent contradictions all make sense if the goal is to preserve and promote a social hierarchy.

One might wonder how Christianity and capitalism are even compatible. Read what Jesus said about money! Sometimes it appears that most contemporary conservative Christians in the US have not read The New Testament at all, and in some other countries, such as in South America, Christian social movements tend to be (more naturally IMO) explicitly anti-capitalist. I have this strong impression that US conservative Christians have come to believe that the so-called Invisible Hand of the market is actually God sending reward and punishment, which is why it's now ok and even praiseworthy to seek after and accumulate wealth.

>>lapcat+Dr
I actually think that progressive <-> conservative political axis isn't a meaningful one in the current climate, and that the more operative axis is the libertarian <-> authoritarian. Importantly, there can be every combination of these four points on the political compass. I.e. there are authoritarian conservatives, and libertarian progressives; but there are also authoritarian progressives and libertarian conservatives.

>>d-z-m+Zu
Progressive <-> conservative has always been a harmful red herring, but it's been made even worse by the shift to progressive <-> reactionary. Especially as most people continue using the word "conservative" as a synonym of "Republican", when the Democrats have been left as the more conservative party.