Four issues with conservatives

By Spence Wade

There are four issues I have with conservatives in discussing their views.

First, everyone is hypocritical to some extent. It seems to be in our nature, but I’ve found that conservatives are far more hypocritical than independents or liberals. I could give many examples, but here are a couple of recent items. Without discussing the pros and cons of abortion, the pro-life supporters tend to be conservative. Yet, when it comes to vaccines, masks and mandates, these same people are against these protections even though it has been proven they save lives.

I have been reading articles on how pro-life people try to lawyer their way out of this dilemma. I can’t understand how one can be pro-life on abortion and seemingly anti-life in regard to COVID protection. A person either cares about life or doesn’t.

Another example is the effort by many Republicans in Congress to downplay the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by describing it as a stroll through the capitol, even though when it was occurring they gave many speeches on how disgusting and shameful it was to watch police officers being beaten with poles attached to the American flag and the U.S. Capitol being desecrated.

Now, the Republican National Committee has recently passed a resolution saying the 6th was about “legitimate political discourse.” Ironically, the RNC is now trying to lawyer its way out of this resolution.

The second issue is conservatives seldom question their beliefs. Independents and liberals are constantly discussing their ideas and values because the world is changing daly, and everyone needs to re-evaluate their views to keep up with the changing times. If conservatives fails to do this, they are left behind and we as a nation become stagnant.

I’m sure everyone agrees that segregation is wrong even though 60-some years ago it was fine. And, to give a more recent example of how things change: the rights of gay people; everyone had to study this.

Third, conservatives tend to treat their politics like a religion. The problem with this is religion is based on faith, not facts. In this way, conservatives can deny facts and evidence even when it is right in front of them. This also gives credence to issue No. 2 above. You see examples of this every day. The idea that the 2020 election was corrupt, even though all facts illustrate that it was not.

When talking to conservatives attending Trump rallies, they are asked about outlandish things Trump says and does. They say, “That’s not true.” Trump, at a rally, made fun of a handicapped person. When asked about it, conservatives will deny it happened, even after being shown a tape of him doing exactly that.

And the fourth item is conservatives desire to believe in conspiracies no matter how outlandish and absurd they are. To me, this is a more recent characteristic of conservatism. For example, the idea that Democrats under Hillary Clinton ran a child-smuggling ring and supported pedophiles, or the idea that Republican Secretary of States and Republican election officials in the battleground states conspired to allow Joe Biden to steal the election, or the FBI was responsible for Jan. 6, and the list of conspiracies goes on.

I’m curious what will be the next conspiracy they will contrive.
I’m sure many conservatives who read this will say, “These items don’t apply to me because I don’t adhere to the mentioned issues.”
The problem with this is when they go to the polls, they vote for people who do promote many of these wild ideas. In bills designed to protect our nation brought before Congress in the past year, most received zero support from conservatives or they blocked them from being brought up for a vote. I challenge conservatives to review the statements and voting records of representatives they voted for and then say it doesn’t apply to them. If you vote for them, they talk for you. They may have some difficulty carrying out this chore since some Republican representatives are now beginning to waffle back and forth on whether they support the insurrection or disown it, much to the chagrin of Trump.

Everyone in America needs to think more clearly about the issues of our time and question their views. Conservatives need to re-evaluate how they look at and treat their political ideas. Sadly, if we don’t, nothing will ever change and our democracy may suffer the fate that every other major world power has experienced throughout history.

Editor’s note: Spence Wade resides in Leavenworth.