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Introduction

The Republican grip on government is as tight as ever, but conservatism is coming apart at the seams. There are smelly "grease" scandals being uncovered. Hidden racism suddenly pops up. Class warfare against the poor and deprived comes in with the flood tide.

This essay is perhaps redundant, but its does seem a good time to "lock in" certain associations and problems associated with conservatism. (Lest you forget.)

The first matter to be contested is very simple: why should I prefer decisions to be made privately? Conservatives yell over and over about the virtue of private decisions. We should prefer our own decisions, they say, rather than what the government tells us to think or do. Implicitly, the conservative voice assumes people will decide whatever the government tells them, and not any other thing. Thus, we are better off freed of government regulation in choosing what car to own, and whether to smoke cigarettes. Real men can dispense with the "Nanny State."

But, I must ask, what is it that compels me to do what the government suggests or orders? If I want to smoke anything, I can walk down the street and buy a pack (or a joint or a whatever), no matter what the government says. Sometimes there is government compulsion, as when they tow away my car or arrest me. But, for most people, the heavy hand of Big Brother is not directly on them or even right behind them. What, then, is the urgency of the conservative protest against Big Government? The answer lies in the positions and interests conservatives hold. It is those same conservatives who want to sell me a giant gas-guzzler, cigarettes, and lots of other things in which they have an economic interest. Now, it is true they are smelling the breath of Big Brother right behind them; the government is trying to regulate their activities. So, I can understand why they are complaining. But what has that to do with me? I am not a car or cigarette manufacturer. I don't make cigars for Ahhnold, either. So, those pesky regulations invoked by the Nanny State scarcely affect me at all, except that cigarettes and gas are pretty expensive. Most of the trouble caused by the government happens to conservatives who own and run the big businesses, not to me.

Perhaps I should take their part, because when the government limits their ability to sell cigarettes, my "freeedom" to buy them is restricted as well. Or, I can ask, who should make this decision? Should the manufacture and sale of cigarettes be left entirely to private parties, or should the government intervene? If we suppose cigarettes have no public impact, then maybe it is a matter of indifference who decides. But even in that case, there is the question whether the private purveyors have an undue influence on consumers. If we object to Big Brother and a puritanical Nanny, we may also object to private entities that regulate our behavior just as thoroughly. If I suppose those private interests use some sort of magic to compel me to use their products, then I am no freer from their clutches than I am of the government's. And, in fact, corporate interests use every known social and psychological technique to goad people into accepting and consuming their products. Those techniques are so good that almost everyone succumbs sooner or later, without torture or death threats.

To me, private interests deciding my life for me seems just as obnoxious as public ones doing that. But in the order of preferences, I think it far better if the influence is "out there," in the public, visible. In the United States, supposedly, when decisions are made by the government, I and we at least have some opportunity to influence, even guide, the result. That is better than being ruled by decisions made somewhere by unknown people over whom we have no control whatsoever.

Conservatives appeal to our fears of being reduced to children, by waving the Hobgoblin Nanny State in our faces. That is meant to goad us into proving our maturity by acting on their behalf. Then they appeal to our supposed mature independence by asking us to reject government regulation of various business enterprises. It seems sensible - aren't we old enough to decide for ourselves? - but there is a catch. What they are asking us to support helps them, it helps them a lot; but it does not help me. Moreover, when they've had their way with me, they don't care what happens to me - witness their defense against cigarette and other consumer lawsuits.

That's why we have those regulations.

Introduction
The Republican grip on government is as tight as ever, but conservatism is coming apart at the seams. There are smelly "grease" scandals being uncovered. Hidden racism suddenly pops up. Class warfare against the poor and deprived comes in with the flood tide. This essay is perhaps redundant, but its does seem a good time to "lock in" certain associations and problems associated with conservatism. (Lest you forget.)

Public Decisions