You don’t even have to see an identifier when a conservative argues for anything conservative. You can hear their conservatism in their voice. It’s cynical notes – all off-key and menacing – assume the very worst of everyone not them. “Yeah, but…!” arguments abound that suppose all sorts of ludicrous what ifs against which we must protect ourselves by keeping things as they are. Or, better still, from the conservative POV, as they were. That’s really what conservatives want to conserve: the past. Or, as much of the past as still exists in the present.

That’s really the point of every conservative argument. It’s why conservative arguments all sound the same – like bullshit. Poet T S Elliot described “a tedious argument of insidious intent” in his poem “The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock”. That perfectly describes every conservative argument because every conservative argument has nothing but insidious intent.

“Oh, do not ask what is it. Let us go and make our visit.”

The Spirit Of The Law

It used to be, when conservatives/Republicans were still mindful of boundaries, they half-tried to make logical arguments. They’d still follow the letter of the law, but they had zero qualms about violating its spirit to death. Now, they can’t even pass their own bullshit border legislation. That’s because, at bottom, conservatives have no argument worth making.

Except their most basic argument: they want the world to be as it was – back when they held all the money and all the political power. That’s what originalism is – a claim that America can only ever be the country it was. A country that approved of slavery and misogyny and bigotry and inequality all around. Where only white, Christian, land-owning men were equals and the rest of us weren’t.

I’m A “Progressive”

I don’t think of myself as “liberal”; I think of myself as a “progressive” because that better describes my whole attitude toward life. I want to see me and my family, my community, my city, state and country – the whole human race frankly – progress into the future.

And I want that collective future to be far better than our collective past. When white, Christian men had all the power and money.

That, at its core, is what every conservative argument wants to achieve: all the power and all the money. Like it used to be.

It’s an argument of insidious intent.