On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:04:05 -0800, Robert Sturgeon
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 20:12:12 GMT,
(George Cleveland) wrote:

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 14:46:20 -0500, Tom Quackenbush
wrote:

George Cleveland wrote:

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is
true that most stupid people are conservative." - John Stuart Mill

OK, I have to confess ignorance here - I'm not very familiar with
J.S. Mill. When did he write that & did he mean "conservative" in the
same political sense that it's used today?

I only ask because it seems that being conservative, rather than
innovative, is a good survival strategy for those of us that aren't
brilliant. IOW, reliance on the "tried and true" methods seems to be a
safer bet than risking the unknown, which tends to have a high failure
rate.

FWIW, I'm all in favor of _someone_ risking the unknown, but if I
were responsible for feeding my wife & kids, I'd rather it were
someone _else_.

R,
Tom Q.
These are good points. Obviously he was referring to what was considered
conservative in his own time.
And its not just the intellectually challenged who end up supporting the
"Old Regime", whatever that is at the given time and place.

Yes, but the Old Regime now is the New Deal setup FDR and
LBJ saddled us with. The so-called "conservatives" aren't.
The so-called "liberals" aren't. The words that we use to
describe the political factions are exactly ass-backwards
from the truth.


Nope. The Old Regime are the Reaganites and the large corporations. They
have been the peoiple in power for most of the last 150 years.

The powerless
in general receive no favors by sticking their necks out. If you're living
close to the bone, any change can be just enough to send you into personal
and familial disaster. Thats why revolutions against repressive regimes and
economic systems are so rare. The oppressed have to literally reach the
point where they have nothing left to lose.

Revolutions usually occur when the lot of the ordinary
people is improving. The truly hopeless seldom rebel.

Who, by the way,can think of no American government in history that would
qualify as "leftist".

The New Deal certainly was (unless by "leftist" you mean
"communist").
Nope again. FDR didn't propose anything that hadn't been proposed by the
Progressive Party which was a spin off from the Republican Party. Most of
FDR's reforms were modest compared to the rising leftist popular sentiment
at the time.
Robert Sturgeon,
proud member of the vast right wing conspiracy
and the evil gun culture.


g.c.