This treatise is not about the morality (or lack thereof) of American Conservatism that pretends to be about small government, but rather about the inevitability of global conservatism as a whole to embrace lies and lying. It is not a postulate in this work that liberalism (new ideas) is inherently superior to conservatism (resistance to change); though it is my personal observation that this often seems to be the case. Rather, it is a basic observation of human nature and the consequences thereof.
Humans are tribal; we divide ourselves into groups. Within groups, there are sub groups. One of the most common divisions in all human spectra is old vs new. All races, creeds, colors, religions, parties, nations and philosophies have their own individual internal spectrum of folks who embrace change and those who hold to traditions of the past.
Humans are imperfect. Humans do good and bad. No one, generally, considers themselves evil. However, people do have vastly different ideas about the good of the individual vs the good of the whole or group; and expectations vary widely within each group as to what the expected norm is to be. Lying is a universal human trait and tactic; everyone is tempted to do it, and nearly everyone succumbs to that temptation.
Lying, as a rule, is usually only effective in limited doses, unless everyone wants to share in the lie. If people care more about the truth more than they care about a lie, then they avoid lying. Generally, moreover, if people do not have a reason to want to believe a lie, they will take offense to being lied to.
In most groups, the dynamics of the group form a bell curve between extremes. That is, in the embrace of the new or the old; both ends try to convince the center that they should go in their direction (or lack thereof). People often resist change. Nostalgia for the past is universal; and not usually logical. Even those from horrific pasts will generally find something there that they embrace, sometimes that simply isn't true.
Thus, the burden on those with new ideas is heavier. They must do more to convince the middle to embrace their idea than give up the old ways. As such, over the long run, a lie told by a liberal is more likely to be found out, with the new idea rejected. For a conservative, however, a lie might live a long time. Indeed, a culture might grow so accepting about lies woven from nostalgia that it is accepted, and a drastically different standard of truth is applied to liberals than to conservatives.
This is a nice theory, but what about proof?
In Japan, conservatives are rewriting textbooks...again...to declare that the Rape of Nanking never happened and that "comfort women" were happy in their role.
In Saudi Arabia, conservative clerics are announcing that women driving hurts their babies.
A conservative president in Iran stated that there were no LGBT individuals in Iran. He also said the holocaust didn't happen.
Conservatives in Europe say the holocaust didn't happen.
Chinese conservatives are pretending nukes don't exist as they extend their sphere of influence to the South China sea.
In Texas, conservatives try to rewrite textbooks to say slavery didn't happen and that evolution doesn't exist.
In Europe, conservatives are pretending austerity measures are good for the economy.
In Malaysia, conservative native parties deny more liberal groups rights by making up lies about crimes that do not exist.
In Pakistan, conservative Taliban try to prevent women from getting a proper education and lie about every agreement or treaty they ever make.
And American conservatives? Lie after lie after lie.
They elected Mitt Romney, the most dishonest politician in generations as their champion to represent their ideals; until he was defeated, in which case many of them claimed they never supported him. I could post a thousand lies but anyone not a conservative or a meembly bother knows how much they lie, so no need to rehash tht.
It isn't that liberals don't lie. They do. In the Falklands, Argentina is claiming sovereignty over islands they haven't owned for 200 years but at the same time claim to believe in democratic self determination. And all of South America is behind them because it costs them little to do so. There are plenty of examples.
But conservatives have human nature behind them. Conservatives get away with lying so easily that it becomes second nature to them. In fact, sometimes, it becomes so big that even they believe their own lies. In the soviet union, the conservative old guard thought themselves invulnerable and lost to the liberals that toppled them.
The lesson here for conservatives is that you need to work twice as hard to find the truth because those around you will lie, and due to loyalty and tribalism you're going to work twice as hard to believe your friends who are probably lying.
The lesson here for liberals? Don't think victories earned by conservatives shooting themselves in the foot forever due to lying will last forever. No one likes to lose, and enough losses will cause conservatives to be honest....for a while....
Oh and Libertarians? What is more conservative than believing in 200 year old ideas? Gold? Conservative. Enlightenment ideals? Conservative. Anarchy? Back to caveman times. Conservative. Libertarians are the most conservative group in America...and the most dishonest.
