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Originally Posted by hot_pastrami
Just because two things or ideas are inextricably linked does not mean that you must have the same opinion of both things, even if they are just separate qualities of the same concept. For instance, I can love Wal-Mart's low prices and product selection, but loathe the company itself. There is a logical separation of ideas there, and one is not dependent on the other, so they're not really contradictory. What I mean is, the things that cause me to dislike Wal-Mart are things other than the prices and product selection... such as their business practices and smothering growth.
The same logical separation allows us to support our soldiers, while still condemning the war in Iraq. The soldiers are not the war, they're just one high-profile aspect. The citizens are not the nation.
Extreme conservatives like the ones you describe usually love their country and rich people. That's why they dislike social service programs and the like, but they still love their country.
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Yes, I see what you are saying. Kind of like you can "hate the sin and love the sinner" or support the soldier but loathe the government who sent him off to war. That's still not exactly what I'm trying to get at. I don't think its flying in the face of logic to disagree with a politician's decision to wage war while feeling sympathy for the young soldier who puts his life on the line for his country. One can view the politician as older, wiser, and cynically out for some ulterior motive as he stays safely at home while the soldier is young, politically naive, and out there doing the fighting.
Extreme conservatives may love their country and rich people, but they try to convince one that they love everybody when it should be obvious to everyone that they don't.
But the liberal point of view is just as flawed, really. If I as a liberal feel angry with the government for not providing a better educational system or better health care, why do I turn to the very same culprit (the government) seeking redress of these wrongs? As the years go by, I loose ever more confidence in the government. I have come to realize that I have as little faith in the government as most Libertarians seem to have. I guess what it comes down to is that I don't believe that we any longer have a government "of the people, by the people, for the people."
Perhaps, this is where my feeling of dissonance comes from as much as anything. It seems to me that "the people" have given up and become polarized into those "knee jerk" camps we spoke of above. I think "the people" feel pretty powerless to influence civic or political events and this sense of powerlessness, whether acknowledged or not, translates into fear and a type of xenophobia. The white folks are afraid of the brown and black ones, the black folks and the hispanics dislike the white; and we all retreat to our seperate gated communities and hate one another while waving our American flags. But maybe I'm being overly cynical.