Senate candidate JD Vance is describing how the Republicans have changed. Are we listening?

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.editorialboard.com/senate-candidate-jd-vance-is-describing-how-the-republicans-have-changed-are-we-listening/

*snip*

It is conservatism. And it isn’t. But explaining all that history is better left to historians. Anyway, it’s better to set aside the old ways of thinking. The most constructive way of viewing Vance, and today’s Republicans, is through the lens of authoritarian collectivism.

That might sound strange. Collectivism is tied to socialism and communism. The Republicans accuse liberals of being communists for merely wanting to use the government to help people. But collectivism is complex. There are left-wing strains, like Soviet Russia and Communist China, and right-wing strains, like the Nazi Party. If you prefer something more contemporary, like Afghanistan’s Taliban. The common thread is the belief that power is about us against them.

To wit, JD Vance identified an enemy who, as the enemy, is no longer entitled to the rights, liberties and privileges of the in-group, i.e., the Republicans. The enemy deserves whatever’s coming to it. In this case, “asset forfeiture,” a violation of the sacred right to property, as conservatives in the past would have understood it. In this, Vance is helpfully describing how the Republican Party has changed from a party elevating the interests of the individual to a party elevating the interests of the collective at the expense of the individual. If we insist on it being a conservative party, we’re actually misunderstanding it.

Vance is tapping into a pattern I noticed during the 2016 GOP primaries. On the one hand, Donald Trump would blame Barack Obama for pretty much everything. On the other, he would propose a solution to the problem that was exactly what Obama himself had proposed. (He could not achieve it, though, thanks to GOP obstruction in the Congress.) Trump’s supporters didn’t mind. If he said it, it was good. If Obama said it, it was bad. Even if they were the same thing.

*snip*

[StarfishSaver]

1. No

[Nevilledog]

2. Succinct and accurate.

[Budi]

3. Answered with stunning accuracy