One of the most unfortunate facts that has contributed to the shift you mention in the Republican party is the loss of clarity in our political language. Words like "conservative" have become fluid and malleable in our current culture. The word conservative has gone from referring to a well-defined ideology where there may have been one or two points that were debatable, to now meaning anything from authoritarianism to socialism.
This change of language was brought on by the lies of the mainstream media (to include Fox) who would often mischaracterize "conservatives" with either non-conservative ideals or falsely impose extremes on them. Not only is the media responsible for this change in language, but elected officials who won elections by branding themselves as a conservative and then disregarding nearly every tenant of conservatism (think George H.W. Bush). With both mainstream media and politicians degrading the meaning of conservatism, alternate media started to fill in gaps. While alternate media plays a vital role in countering the mainstream medias false narratives it can also lack a foundation in historical accuracy or tradition. This leads to claims about conservatism that are taken at face value by alternative media's followers.
While Trump has never outright called himself a conservative or advocated for the conservative ideology many of his fans have labeled him as such. They do this because of the malleability created by the loss of shared meaning of the word conservatism. We are now seeing the consequences of the loss of our political language. I believe this is at the heart of why the Republican party is so divided.
I think the media has certainly played a roll. It goes back to that notion of a lie becoming truth by repetition. But this points us to a deeper issue - the death of philosophy. Politics is simply philosophy applied to the governance of human affairs. Beginning in the 1950s in universities across the nation, philosophy and history departments went into free fall. The lack of an underlying philosophy from which to establish and defend a platform which could guide conservatives, it has devolved into a very reactionary or contrarian movement in which we are simply taking the opposite position of the Democrats on each circumstance as it arises (as we see in the tendency for modern conservatives to be anti war or pro war depending on the regime, Christian and prolife in one breath and justifying the murder of 15,000 innocent women and children the next, etc..) trying to maintain the status quo. Alternatively, philosophical principles have been replaced by a game of personalities - as we see with Trump.
Perhaps in an ethnostate this wouldn't be so problematic. But America has always been a propositional nation, which necessitates a base set of philosophical suppositions by which to interpret texts and the world around us.
That being the case, those who have an underlying philosophy (socialists, euro-nationalists, etc) are able to carve out a base of support for themselves.
A well balanced analysis. Thank you!
One of the most unfortunate facts that has contributed to the shift you mention in the Republican party is the loss of clarity in our political language. Words like "conservative" have become fluid and malleable in our current culture. The word conservative has gone from referring to a well-defined ideology where there may have been one or two points that were debatable, to now meaning anything from authoritarianism to socialism.
This change of language was brought on by the lies of the mainstream media (to include Fox) who would often mischaracterize "conservatives" with either non-conservative ideals or falsely impose extremes on them. Not only is the media responsible for this change in language, but elected officials who won elections by branding themselves as a conservative and then disregarding nearly every tenant of conservatism (think George H.W. Bush). With both mainstream media and politicians degrading the meaning of conservatism, alternate media started to fill in gaps. While alternate media plays a vital role in countering the mainstream medias false narratives it can also lack a foundation in historical accuracy or tradition. This leads to claims about conservatism that are taken at face value by alternative media's followers.
While Trump has never outright called himself a conservative or advocated for the conservative ideology many of his fans have labeled him as such. They do this because of the malleability created by the loss of shared meaning of the word conservatism. We are now seeing the consequences of the loss of our political language. I believe this is at the heart of why the Republican party is so divided.
Just a couple thoughts.
I think the media has certainly played a roll. It goes back to that notion of a lie becoming truth by repetition. But this points us to a deeper issue - the death of philosophy. Politics is simply philosophy applied to the governance of human affairs. Beginning in the 1950s in universities across the nation, philosophy and history departments went into free fall. The lack of an underlying philosophy from which to establish and defend a platform which could guide conservatives, it has devolved into a very reactionary or contrarian movement in which we are simply taking the opposite position of the Democrats on each circumstance as it arises (as we see in the tendency for modern conservatives to be anti war or pro war depending on the regime, Christian and prolife in one breath and justifying the murder of 15,000 innocent women and children the next, etc..) trying to maintain the status quo. Alternatively, philosophical principles have been replaced by a game of personalities - as we see with Trump.
Perhaps in an ethnostate this wouldn't be so problematic. But America has always been a propositional nation, which necessitates a base set of philosophical suppositions by which to interpret texts and the world around us.
That being the case, those who have an underlying philosophy (socialists, euro-nationalists, etc) are able to carve out a base of support for themselves.