Jan 04 2009
Social Conservatism and the Credit Crunch
Why is it that economic downturn equals social conservatism? In the news lately we’ve had Angelina Jolie criticised for glamourising guns (cos of course, no one has EVER done that before. Dirty Harry?) , Caroline Duffy (aka only poet children actually like) censored by the examboard, drug users are turning to valium (is that supposed to be news?), a cervical cancer injection (by the way guys, you can get cervical cancer from your first sexual experience. Which could be on your wedding night) being boycotted by ignorant parents who think it’s going to turn their little darlings into little sluts, a William Wallace poster branded ‘distressing’. I could go on only it’s really depressing.
Why not focus on real problems? Like why do failing businessmen think it’s ok to murder their families? Why are green initiatives being abandoned despite the fact that they save money? Why are we being urged to spend when saving props up the economy better?
I’m not sure I understand the premise of the post… are you saying conservative policies are being blamed for the crunch? Because I would argue that Bush is anything but an economic conservative (yeah he won’t raise your taxes, but just about everything else with his policies include big government)…
As for saving/spending, it depends on what you think America can handle. If you believe (as the democrats do) that the government can prop up these businesses until America reaches the production levels it was at before, then you should be happy about Obama coming into the presidency.
If you believe (like the more conservative-minded bunch) that the businesses should be allowed to fail because of the free market/supply and demand aspect, then… well this isn’t going to be your four years.
I personally feel somewhat in the middle. The libertarian in me says let them fail, but at the same time I’m not sure if smart-conservative-fiscal policy (which you won’t get from republicans anyway) is enough to get us going again - and the price we’d pay if this failed could be catastrophic.
I was saying that the econonomic downturn has made people more inclined to be morally conservative.
I’m British so it’s a little different from my perspective. Personally I believe we need a complete change of system. This cycle of economic rise and fall (like the old empires) is cyclical and unsustainable. Neither propping up the businesses or letting them fail will work…what would work is changing the nature of capitalism, making it more local, less of a global phenomenon.
Outlets like woolworths over here, or Walmart in the states, have contributed to this downturn by promoting cheap, bad quality crap over good quality, long lasting, more expensive items. Also, convincing people that cheap is better.