The Holes in Conservative Logic

Quite honestly it can be pretty hard to consider conservative logic and in the end award it any intellectual credit. After all, some conservative tenets can't even climb as high as the common sense peak.

Take for instance the conservative position on America's national debt. Most conservatives and/or partisan Republicans now lay the blame entirely on President Obama, arguing that he's done more than any other president to add to it, which is systematically destroying the country's sovereignty.

Well, not to come off trite and predictable, but where were these critics when President George W. Bush financed tax cuts with $2.4 trillion in borrowed money? I'll tell you where: right behind President Bush in unwavering support of the tax cuts and in line with the Republicans in Congress, who reluctantly gave into the reconciliation proposal of Democrats who demanded the cuts have an expiration date.

Familiar with Dick Cheney's perpetual defense of the Bush administration's use of torture to retrieve confessions from suspected terrorists? Despite a number of interrogation experts countering Cheney's cynical assertion with the professional conclusion that torture provides unreliable information and, as a result, doesn't work, the former two-term vice president under George W. Bush & Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush, refuses to admit that there are blatant holes in his logic.

Recently, the New York Times reported that the practice of torture has now (ironically) made it difficult to try & convict suspected terrorists.

"Because federal judges cannot trust the confessions of prisoners obtained by intense coercion, they are regularly throwing out the government's cases against Guantánamo Bay prisoners."

I'm betting Mr. Cheney will never let up on the defense of his immoral, inefficient, & frankly, hypocritical anti-terrorism policy.

And let's not forget the anti-tax fervor that is sweeping the nation at a rate faster than one can say "our roads need repaved, our classrooms are overcrowded, our public transportation is insufficient, and a lot of us still don't have jobs and are in desperate need of unemployment benefits." But these issues in reality are of great concern to the Tea party & its "ultraconservative" Republican candidates who've developed a pretty solid, across the board answer: cut taxes!

Still, my guess is that whenever an American citizen-who subscribes to the conservative persuasion-drives over a pothole in a street in their neighborhood, that citizen immediately says to his or herself, "See, government can't do anything right!"

It's really hard to examine these examples and not blame Fox News for the irrationality in their substance. Just today, while eating lunch with my wife at a restaurant which will remain nameless, I noticed Fox News airing on a television hanging from the ceiling in the center of the establishment's bar. I was, at first, surprised to see what seemed like an objective report on President Obama who was "THANKING THE TROOPS" before "DELIVERING HIS SPEECH." Then again, praise of the American military and American sacrifice is one of Fox's televised fortes. Still, shortly thereafter, the program on Fox returned to its higher percentile of negative talking points & dubious information.

"FEWER PEOPLE APPROVE OF HEALTH CARE LAW." Is that not an ambiguous affirmation? Furthermore, we are talking about the same health care law which doesn't really effect all Americans until 2014, right? Granted, I thought the law was weak & an unconscionable handout to the HMO's as soon as that became fact with the White House memo that was leaked, exposing the dos & don'ts agreed to by the Obama adminstration & PhARMA. But that doesn't change the fact that I've yet to be effected by any of its alleged pros or cons. At the very least, what at all does anyone have yet to be upset over? Maybe I'm just being brutally honest, but I'm certain that's what I like about being a progressive.