An Open Letter To American Conservatives From A Canadian Progressive.
I watch both sides of the American democratic process with about as much interest as any American citizen, following primaries and caucuses months before your election. I see millions and millions of dollars burned through to get your points across with tasteless ads that fill commercials between Jeopardy! and 60 Minutes. In an era where we can watch thirty women date one man on television or see Odell Beckham Jr. make plays that defy physics in 4k definition, watching your Grand Ol’ Party disintegrate has become the greatest and most unbelievable show on Earth. And yes, it will be televised.
As a Canadian, you can ‘tell me to shut up’ or worse, and you usually do. I’m okay with it.
What could a progressive Canadian know about the Republican Party or American conservatism?
I can objectively say without much risk to my own political reality, that the current trajectory of the GOP is alarming. Even to me up here in the Great White North, bleeding heart and all.
But no one should be more concerned about it than you, the 55 million registered Republican voters and roughly half of the 45 million independent voters that tick ‘red’ instead of ‘blue’ every four years, unless of course this is what you wanted all along. The Republican Party has not only lost the respect of most moderates and intellectuals in the country and abroad, but it is in the process of cannibalizing itself as a viable, electable option and possibly as a party or broad ideology itself for the entire next generation. Maybe that’s what you wanted?
The stark possibility of another eight years with a Democrat in the White House has only seemed to have made things worse, ushering in an even starker possibility of a Social Democrat taking the Democratic nomination. Who, it’s worth noting, crushes every Republican candidate in national, head-to-head polling.
But how did this happen? In a cycle dominated by establishment outsiders, one being an admitted Socialist the other being a world famous real-estate mogul turned beauty pageant owner and reality television star, how could it be that the Socialist is ahead in the opinion polls? I thought America hated Socialism and loved TV and models?
The Republican Party looks almost dead or dying and it sounds like it’s choking on a thousand different angry talking points.
I want to clarify this point so the average ‘moderate’, American conservative can’t use it to say how anti-establishment their Tea Party or Libertarian sentiments are or the fact the GOP is overrun by career politicians who don’t represent them.
Like it or not, you are the Republican Party (or what’s left).
The reality of the situation is the American electorate have two options when it’s time to make the big decision in November. Each party must adapt and stretch to encompass all ideologies in the final push to secure the entire base and possibly some key independents, regardless of how wacky some of those ideologies are. We all know that, but don’t be angry that you’ve surrounded yourselves with simpletons. It is not the ‘establishment’s’ fault, the media’s fault and certainly not the Democrats fault that the GOP contest resembles baby sharks in the womb right now while the Democratic nominees are conducting respectable campaigns based on progress and bigger ideas.
It might be worth noting then that running platforms of fear and emotion based on mystic or xenophobic rhetoric for years, may have detrimental effects on the voting base in the long run. The viciousness of the Republican candidates and your electorate towards Bernie, Hillary or their supporters is matched only by the viciousness of attacks at fellow conservatives as you cleave each other down at the knees to find your nomination. I can’t imagine a conservative watching the Democratic debates or town halls and not immediately seeing how much of a farce your beloved party and general ideology have become, even by today’s standards. To be honest, I can’t imagine a conservative watching a Democratic debate or town hall at all.
That is your biggest problem, but let’s leave the parties out of this for a second.
When it’s time to debate serious issues with progressives, or you encounter an alternate perspective or you don’t get your way, conservatives shut down, assuring themselves that their God-given liberties far out-weigh the merits of law or even their revered Constitution. Whether personally or categorically through filibustering in the Senate or in Congress, you won’t engage with anyone who doesn’t think like you and I know why.
Progressives tend to look at issues rationally, using common sense, facts, compassion and logic to reach conclusions. That’s what progression is, adaptation. Unfortunately most American conservatives tend to have emotive positions based on feelings, so intelligent conversation is just not possible. It’s very reminiscent to a physicist and religious zealot speaking about the creation of the universe.
Of the many socially absurd stances American conservatives tend to take, let’s look at single payer, universal health care for a second. I hear many poor, Republican voters on social media declaring their hatred for the very idea of universal health care. That because of Obamacare their insurance premiums have risen, that free lunches are not free. I try to explain that Obamacare is not universal health care, that it’s a Band-Aid for your broken, predatory system. I tell them that health care is a right and not a privilege, that universal health care means you don’t ever deal with insurance premiums again. I tell them that as a Canadian, I enjoy this very right and I am proud to have it. I tell them that it’s more than possible in the richest country on the planet too. They call me a communist and the conversation ends there.
The fact that The United States of America pays more than anyone else on Earth for medical care while not guaranteeing health care for all of its citizens is absurd. You are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, how can this be possible? Your neighbour and all of your industrialized friends offer sick pay, benefits, unemployment insurance, government funded social programs and universal health care to all of its citizens without question while figuring out a way to pay for all of it. Surely Americans know this right?
American conservatives, you are losing your grip on reality, not a swipe at your integrity just a plain observation from someone who sees things from a truly indifferent position. Universal health care is not a theory, climate change is not a theory, equal rights are not a theory, progressives do not ruin economies. All one would have to do is pick up any number of academic resources to confirm these ideas or drive up to lovely Canada and see first-hand what you’re missing and branding as ‘unobtainable’. When did the denial or intolerance to vetted scientific facts or political realities become the American conservative’s signature? It’s sad folks.
Abe Lincoln would likely be disgusted. Jesus too if you believe in that sort of stuff.
Canadian conservatives get these concepts and operate a conservative ideology around them, as do most other moderate conservatives around the western world. So here’s a rhetorical question I’d love you folks to think about for a minute.
Why can’t you?
Your friend from the north,
Mr. MatterMote
@MatterMote Editorial 