Failed Conservative Values: Barbara, Carole, Nina on Dogmatism

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Apr 21, 2008 12:37 PM EDT

I'm starting a new series of articles on how Conservative Values have Failed.   It's obvious that conservative ideas and policies have failed, but the failures go even deeper to the very heart and essence of the conservative movement, to their Failed Conservative Values. In this series, we will pull back the mask of Conservative Family Values, Conservative Traditional Values,  individual freedom, individual responsibility, individual liberty, Compassionate Conservativism, etc. to reveal the underlying Failed Conservative Values of fear, authoritarianism, secrecy, dogmatism, greed, indifference, self-righteousness, arrogance, hypocrisy, etc.

I ask for your assistance to systematically build the arguments and tell the stories that reveal how Conservative Values have Failed. Join in our effort to create a documentary and book on the subject by contributing  articles, posts, chapters for the book and video clips. Check our website for more information and a growing outline of tasks that need to be done on this project.  http://progressivespirit.com/Projects/FailedConservativeValues
 

The first failed conservative value we will look at is dogmatism. I interviewed Barbara, Carole and Nina at a conference of Democratic Clubs in Los Angeles. When I asked them to contrast conservative and progressive values, they all talked about conservative dogmatism and rigidity. Conservative dogmatism starts with the beliefs first and fit the facts to support them. The war and occupation of Iraq is a case in point. If the facts don't fit the dogma, they are ignored.

 Failed Conservative Values: Barbara Levin on Dogmatism

My own feeling and my own prejudice is that people on the right are believers rather than thinkers. And they start with the belief, and they fix the facts around their beliefs. That’s how we got into Iraq, under the memo that says, as you know, we’re fixing the facts around the policy that’s already established.

You start with a belief, then you fix the facts to go with your belief. And they do that with gay people, they decide that it’s a chosen lifestyle, because they start with a premise that it’s wrong, and if it’s wrong, it can’t be something you’re born with – it has to be chosen. That is a classic example of fixing the facts around the policy.

And I think they do that with a number of things. I think they listen to code words, and then don’t think through what these things actually mean. So family values – what does that mean? To most people on the right, I think it means anti-gay, it used to be anti-black, anti-woman, anti-change. Because they’re used to the universe as they believe it was created. And they think the universe was created as the way they see it existing. And therefore, any change is against the natural order of things. Because the natural order of things is what’s already there – what they’re used to.

Progressive, as the name implies, is always pushing for change, which conservatives, who are anti-change, hate. They are uncomfortable with it. And progressives look for progress – as the name implies. Progress means change of a specific kind, not just any old change, but change to improve people’s lives. Change for betterment, change for economic justice. Change for legal justice, for social justice. Change that will improve conditions for the most number of people.

That’s what progressive values are all about, as the name implies. And conservative values are about, “I’m used to this. Change is threatening. I don’t want change.” I mean, the right likes to have their version morality as very static, “God wants things this way, and this way is the way it is”. And that’s their idea of morality. They start with the rule, and then they use their idea of morality which is to use morality to judge people. So people are bad if they don’t obey the rule.

 Progressive values start with the premise being people.  That which helps people is good. That which hurts people is bad. And then they use people to judge the rule. So, if the rule helps people, it’s a good rule. And if the rule hurts people, it’s a bad rule and should be changed.
 

Failed Conservative Values:  Carole M Marie on Rigidity

 

Conservatives values, just um, are very ridged and they deal with almost religious family. From a certain type of religion, which I'm very well aware of because I'm from Okalahoma.  and I know the religion,  I know why they frame it that way.

We need an enlarged support system around our families - education, health care.

More expanded  caring feeling, much more accessible to humans, and egalitarian so to speak.   Whereas republican values is very ridged, very focused, you have to be a certain type of religion or mind set. Whereas we are this large supportive caring type of feeling.

Failed Conservative Values: Nina Sharky on Dogmatism

Conservative values are based on beliefs, not the world around us.  This has nothing to do with religion, because I think there are religious progressives, and there are religious “conservatives”.  There is a belief among the conservatives that I know that there is right and wrong, and those people that are not in their mind right, have no rights.

That’s their core essence – that people don’t have a right to basic human dignity.  That’s what I see among conservatives, that the idea is to see how much people can accumulate.  And I don’t just mean in wealth – whether it’s titles.  I have a friend who’s quite wealthy.  He says it’s come to the game “who’s got more?” – not whether you have something to spend it on or not.

The essence of that value is that you and yours is all that matters, and that we’re all alone in this universe to be and do what we can, and what happens to the person you step over who fell down on the curb on skid row because they got dumped there by county hospital – that’s not your problem. 

I think it goes beyond indifference.  I think it’s actually total lack of awareness.  It’s not just that they see something and say “I choose not to do anything about it”.  They’re not even aware of anything outside of the bubble of what’s inside themselves.

More about Dogmatism

Dogmatism Definition:

-  The intolerance and prejudice of a bigot

 - The manner or character of a dogmatist; arrogance or  positiveness in stating opinion.
       http://www.freedictionary.org/?Query=dogmatism
       http://www.onelook.com/?w=Dogmatism

Dogmatism
An approach to ideas that emphasizes rigid adherence to doctrine over rational and enlightened inquiry. The opposite approach is probably best characterized as rationalism (in the sense of devotion to clear reasoning and independent thinking) or, perhaps, eclecticism.
        http://www.ismbook.com/dogmatism.html

Wikipedia
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from......
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma
 

Questions to Ponder:
 - Can you pose some questions about conservatives and their value of dogmatism?

 - What are the progressive alternative values to dogmatism?

 -  What are examples of  conservative dogmatism?

 - What's wrong with dogmatism and why does it  fail?

  - In what other ways have Conservative Values Failed?
 

See More Failed Conservative Values Stories:

Edwin Rutsch
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com 
and Study Group

 Cross Posted To:
 http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/25030
 http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_edwin_ru_080421_failed_conservative_.htm
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/21/133117/358/240/500118
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProgressiveValues/

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