Your good name?

So now the Rethugs are whining that conservatism is a great thing, but the Chimp and Congress fucked it up. Um listen, dickheads, the only thing conservatism has done is stifle the growth of the human race. Any ideological movement who wants to return to the past is a roadblock to the development of humanity.

The idea is to learn from the past, from the mistakes others have made and direct efforts toward not repeating them. Looking to the past with longing, to the times 'when life was simpler' and when 'people had values', is a childish, simplistic notion designed to play upon people's fears of the unknown future.

Like fellow Long Islander Billy Joel sang:

... The Good Old Days weren't always good
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems ...

Progressivism is human nature. Our drive to make things better for our fellow man, the desire to explore, to understand ourselves and the world around us. Technologically, we have come farther in the past century than we have in all the rest of human history. In the last century, we have raised the average lifespan from around 45 to 75. A hundred years ago, I'd be considered a senior citizen. How can conservatism deal with such rapid advancement when they cling to a view of life that became obsolete when Hitler was taking power?

When you stifle understanding of human nature, when you stifle scientific experimentation and exploration, when you deny fact in favor of faith, you cannot expect to move your race forward.

I don't get into ideological debates with conservatives for this reason. Conservatism (what it has become) is irrelevant, no discussion needed. It is merely a group of people clinging to a way of life they've looked back upon with rose colored glasses. Yes, it was a simpler time, more black and white issues which are easier to understand, but simplicity doesn't beget a better standard of living, or cures for diseases, or indoor plumbing and refrigerators.

It's like the folks who romanticize the Renaissance times, the knights, the gladiators, and the mysticism. Yeah, that's a romantic notion and the fairs are fun, but if you had to do without indoor plumbing, living in the constant shit-smell of open sewage pits, dying of diseases we have since eradicated, and the fact living to the age of 35 was a long life, you'd come running back to the future in a nanosecond.

Modern conservatism is a haven for those afraid of change, period (not counting the crooks who've hijacked it for their own purposes). It's a haven for people who are afraid to think about things like teenage pregnancy, the fact two people of the same sex can love each other in the same way opposite sex couples can, or the fact we are slowly becoming a global community. If you don't think we are, look at our Sitemeter stats by location (at least one representative from every continent passes through the Brain every day).

The Internet will bring the future faster, and sticking your head in the sand or your fingers in your ears won't change things. Stifling human development, human destiny, in the U.S. won't make a damn bit of difference in the Big Scheme of Things. Others will move past us, some already have, and they will blaze the trail to the future, probably to our detriment. If we don't wake up and embrace the future, embrace intellectualism, embrace discovery, this once-great nation will be left in the dust. 6 years of Bush has helped us down the chute to the Dustbin of History, only progressivism will stop that fall. You want to be conservative? Stop the Chimp from spending our money like a drunken squid on shore leave in Tahiti.

If we don't wake up soon, every good thing done during the American Century will be nothing but a minor footnote in the history books.