{"id":129872,"date":"2012-02-23T14:16:40","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T19:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=129872"},"modified":"2012-12-26T16:07:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:07:30","slug":"severe-conservative-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Severe Conservative Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Article:<\/strong> Severe Conservative Syndrome<\/a> by Paul Krugman in the New York Times.<\/p>\n

The Text:<\/strong> Mitt Romney has a gift for words \u2014 self-destructive words. On Friday he did it again, telling the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was a \u201cseverely conservative governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Molly Ball of The Atlantic pointed out, Mr. Romney \u201cdescribed conservatism as if it were a disease.\u201d Indeed. Mark Liberman, a linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, provided a list of words that most commonly follow the adverb \u201cseverely\u201d; the top five, in frequency of use, are disabled, depressed, ill, limited and injured.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s clearly not what Mr. Romney meant to convey. Yet if you look at the race for the G.O.P. presidential nomination, you have to wonder whether it was a Freudian slip. For something has clearly gone very wrong with modern American conservatism.<\/p>\n

Start with Rick Santorum, who, according to Public Policy Polling, is the clear current favorite among usual Republican primary voters, running 15 points ahead of Mr. Romney. Anyone with an Internet connection is aware that Mr. Santorum is best known for 2003 remarks about homosexuality, incest and bestiality. But his strangeness runs deeper than that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For example, last year Mr. Santorum made a point of defending the medieval Crusades against the \u201cAmerican left who hates Christendom.\u201d Historical issues aside (hey, what are a few massacres of infidels and Jews among friends?), what was this doing in a 21st-century campaign?<\/p>\n

Nor is this only about sex and religion: he has also declared that climate change is a hoax, part of a \u201cbeautifully concocted scheme\u201d on the part of \u201cthe left\u201d to provide \u201can excuse for more government control of your life.\u201d You may say that such conspiracy-theorizing is hardly unique to Mr. Santorum, but that\u2019s the point: tinfoil hats have become a common, if not mandatory, G.O.P. fashion accessory.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Ron Paul, who came in a strong second in Maine\u2019s caucuses despite widespread publicity over such matters as the racist (and conspiracy-minded) newsletters published under his name in the 1990s and his declarations that both the Civil War and the Civil Rights Act were mistakes. Clearly, a large segment of his party\u2019s base is comfortable with views one might have thought were on the extreme fringe.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s Mr. Romney, who will probably get the nomination despite his evident failure to make an emotional connection with, well, anyone. The truth, of course, is that he was not a \u201cseverely conservative\u201d governor. His signature achievement was a health reform identical in all important respects to the national reform signed into law by President Obama four years later. And in a rational political world, his campaign would be centered on that achievement.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Romney is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, and whatever his personal beliefs may really be \u2014 if, indeed, he believes anything other than that he should be president \u2014 he needs to win over primary voters who really are severely conservative in both his intended and unintended senses.<\/p>\n

So he can\u2019t run on his record in office. Nor was he trying very hard to run on his business career even before people began asking hard (and appropriate) questions about the nature of that career.<\/p>\n

Instead, his stump speeches rely almost entirely on fantasies and fabrications designed to appeal to the delusions of the conservative base. No, President Obama isn\u2019t someone who \u201cbegan his presidency by apologizing for America,\u201d as Mr. Romney declared, yet again, a week ago. But this \u201cFour-Pinocchio Falsehood,\u201d as the Washington Post Fact Checker puts it, is at the heart of the Romney campaign.<\/p>\n

How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality? For it was not always thus. After all, that health reform Mr. Romney wants us to forget followed a blueprint originally laid out at the Heritage Foundation!<\/p>\n

My short answer is that the long-running con game of economic conservatives and the wealthy supporters they serve finally went bad. For decades the G.O.P. has won elections by appealing to social and racial divisions, only to turn after each victory to deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy \u2014 a process that reached its epitome when George W. Bush won re-election by posing as America\u2019s defender against gay married terrorists, then announced that he had a mandate to privatize Social Security.<\/p>\n

Over time, however, this strategy created a base that really believed in all the hokum \u2014 and now the party elite has lost control.<\/p>\n

The point is that today\u2019s dismal G.O.P. field \u2014 is there anyone who doesn\u2019t consider it dismal? \u2014 is no accident. Economic conservatives played a cynical game, and now they\u2019re facing the blowback, a party that suffers from \u201csevere\u201d conservatism in the worst way. And the malady may take many years to cure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Article: Severe Conservative Syndrome by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. The Text: Mitt Romney has a gift for words \u2014 self-destructive words. On Friday he did it again, telling the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was a \u201cseverely conservative governor.\u201d As Molly Ball of The Atlantic pointed out, Mr. Romney \u201cdescribed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSevere Conservative Syndrome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Severe Conservative Syndrome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-23T19:16:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-26T21:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/\",\"name\":\"Severe Conservative Syndrome\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-23T19:16:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-26T21:07:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\"},\"description\":\"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Severe Conservative Syndrome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\",\"name\":\"Prose Before Hos\",\"description\":\"The Far Side Of Politics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\",\"name\":\"Article of the Day\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Severe Conservative Syndrome","description":"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Severe Conservative Syndrome","og_description":"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/","og_site_name":"Prose Before Hos","article_published_time":"2012-02-23T19:16:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-26T21:07:30+00:00","author":"Article of the Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_site":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Article of the Day","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/","name":"Severe Conservative Syndrome","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-02-23T19:16:40+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-26T21:07:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e"},"description":"How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality?\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/02\/23\/severe-conservative-syndrome\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Severe Conservative Syndrome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/","name":"Prose Before Hos","description":"The Far Side Of Politics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e","name":"Article of the Day","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork"],"url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133672,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129872\/revisions\/133672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}