There is No Conservative Party in America (Part I of On Conservatism)

American political parties are not ideological parties. Instead, they are mass electoral parties that are coalitions of economic, social, ethnic, and regional intests. I didn't discover this, but listening to self-described "conservatives" whine about McCain's impending victory over Mitt Romney (who believes in nothing) forces me to point out the obvious.

Consider some of the things the so-called "conservatives" whine about. They don't like McCain because he doesn't want oil and gas drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve and he supports lower fuel emissions for cars. There's nothing "conservative" about oil drilling and air pollution. But there is something "Republican Party" (henceforth "RP") about those things, because the RP is supported by oil companies and auto manufacturers -- multinational corporations that don't give a rat's ass about the United States and you or me.

They don't like McCain because he supports campaign finance reform -- specifically, the McCain-Feingold Act, which limited the ability of big-spending donors (i.e., multinationals and big domestic companies like financial and pharmaceutical businesses) to support RPs with "independent spending" and the like just before an election. There's nothing conservative about garbage ads on television, whether they are hawking drug companies, financial institutions, beer or deodorant. But there is something RP about pouring money into them.

And oh, yes, there's "tax cuts." The self-proclaimed "conservatives" hate McCain because he opposed Dubya's tax cuts. Since these "conservatives" always like tax cuts, one would think they would be satisfied only when there were no taxes at all and government would be funded solely by voluntary donations (which would mean it was no longer government). But, no, what they really mean is that voters like to be told their taxes will be reduced, and, of course, no one wants to be told their favorite programs will be cut. So, the "conservatives" say, it's no problem: if the government cuts taxes, there will be so much more private economic activity that the government will raise more revenue and make up for the reduced tax rates. This, of course, explains the enormous budget deficits the federal government ran in the 1980s and after Dubya's tax cuts. Anyway, there's nothing "conservative" about tax cuts (the supply side "conservatives" always point (ironically) to JFK's tax cuts of the early 1960s), but there is something RP about tax cuts, because it's a way to win elections.

My favorite is the claim that McCain is not a "conservative" because he would close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is critical of harsh interrogation techniques used there. For the edification of the comatose, McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and was tortured by our enemies there. Somehow, it does not surprise me that he is critical of torture and abuse. There is nothing "conservative" about torture and abuse. But there is something RP about it, because people who can only think in short bursts do not realize that the law is the shield that protects our freedom, not Dubya, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove or whoever happens to hold the reigns of power at a given moment.

No, there is nothing "conservative" about air pollution, oil drilling in wildlife reserves, big campaign contributions, tax cuts, or torture and abuse. None of these things are bound together by any common idea, philosophical or otherwise. The common thread of these things is the RP -- they represent the disparate supporters of a political party, and that is all. There is nothing "conservative" about the RP.

Lest anyone think I support McCain, think again. We need secure borders, and he doesn't believe that. He wants endless war in the mideast, and we don't need that. There is nothing conservative about open borders and endless war, and no, McCain is not a conservative either. I will try, in subsequent posts that no one will read, to explicate conservatism as I understand it. Neither the RP nor McCain represent conservatism.