Supreme Court Backs Rights for Guantanamo Detainees » The Foundry

Having heard the name “Heritage Foundation” referred to as an old and venerable institution of the American political conservatives establishment, I am surprised and extremely saddened to find the level of discourse here only marginally better than one can find on any right-wing forum.

As a matter of curiosity I spend a great deal of time interacting with the members of a wide cross-section of the ideological spectrum; from communist or socialist on the left through the popular and personal mainstream bloggers, on through the fascist, monarchist or even racist skin-head ideologies of the far-right. And on a subject as lofty and full of dire implications for the survival of the country, reading all these desperate rationalizations for why you disagree with the decision leaves me wondering whether conservatism has anything /at all/ to do with ideology, or whether instead it is really is a personality disorder with political representation.

Have any of you asked yourself why you disagree with the decision to reinstate Habeas in GITMO? Did any of you think out the ramifications of allowing a President to decide when and where fundamental human rights will apply? Did you ask yourself whether every President who suspends it will be conservative, or whether it’s at all possible one of you could be picked up by a foreign government who decides whether you should be afforded the right to contest your imprisonment based on the decision your own leader took when holding his citizens?

Look. Bush has lied to you all about so many things now that one would think it would be an automatic reaction for a sane person to distrust what he has done and trust what has been tradition for over 800 years in the West. Habeas Corpus.

But no. Your fear of a threat exaggerated in your minds by the spectacle of 9/11 has somehow tripped a perceptual or cognitive switch too where you now believe stateless religious kooks can somehow launch attacks with results more dire than what the USSR presented you. And now you want to let a President decide when and where habeas rights apply to human beings, a right that was thousands of years in the making, and hundreds of years as the keystone of democratic rule. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re acting like children!

Palin's Lot

Todd Palin says contacts with his wife's administration were proper - Juneau Empire

What needs to be taken into account by political wonks and citizens concerned about the future, is that the term "conservative" doesn't apply to a description of a political ideolog.... or at least not in the sense that "fascism", "communism", "liberalism" are. It's actually a description of a personality profile.

To illustrate, take the following: You will never find a left-wing, liberal, religious fundamentalist.

The significance of this is that other, "non-conservative" ideologies have a logical basis upon which it's learners can reason out their relative merits, benefits or drawbacks...see what each one offers the most hope for someone of their particular tastes and background.

OTOH, conservatism serves no purpose outside the comfort it offers those so afflicted with what I believe is a disfunctional behavioural trait left us from our pre-Neolithic ancestors. But that is a whole other area of inguiry I cannot hope to cover here.

So. Back to our anti-vice, anti-change crusaders.

The  conservativism "movement" works in much the same way as the drugs that others use to escape the harsh realities of their lives. But a drug's deadening or euphoriant effects change our moods or minds in ways that are far too scary for conservatives, who are ironically probably the one group whose minds could most benefit from a change of mood.

As it is however, they are in perpetual fear of the gay "agenda" (?), a plot I have been lucky enough to actually have a conservative outline for me. This experience alone would have sufficed as convincing evidence that I was in the presence of a strong contender for placement in the next DSM, but my curiousity was now firmly captured by this presence among us. I found they also see other economically deprived ethnic groups as the people responsible for their own crappy jobs, see academics as the cause of their own failure to achieve any real education; and see journalists as the reason they themselves are uninformed about the world. Amazing.

And
anywhere in the world one goes, their 'devils' follow...merely changing
names and faces depending on the culture the conservative mindset appears in.
But the same basic pattern of denial and blame-placement are identical
across cultures, languages, religions or ideologies.

If you watch who they choose as persons whom they'll trust to let guide their thoughts, it'll be persons with a charismatic or authoritarian presence that seem best able to re-frame their discomfort by blaming it away on the people who oppose their existence (intellectuals, "elitists"). Them...and of course their own counterparts in different countries and continents.

Given that the majority of them do indeed live a miserable life,
it's a lucrative career opportunity for someone willing to come up with
enough enemies for them to place all that blame. Unfortunately, few person's with strong ethics or social maturity even
exist outside their own numbers. As such, right-wing authoritarians
have long been the default fill-in; a role that is far too important
for our own survival as a species to allow this incestuous relationship
to continue as it has.

Thankfully they are a minority of the population. And with the advent
of the internet, it's now possible for us to educate ourselves at least
to the basic facts about subjects that have long been the domain only
of the highly educated or well traveled.

Because their antics "over there" scare our ones "over here", they are as much a threat to the peace wherever they appear. Ours will mobilize and threaten war, impose sanctions, and any other antics they can think of to ensure nobody is any happier than they. And no-one, ever, was beset by more devils than the typical conservative.  The 'traditional' RWA-SDO alliance creates a cycle of violence that is
far too dangerous in these nuclear, and now climactically fragile,
times.

But psychologists are fascinated. "Group centrism syndrome" is the phrase psychologists use when referring to their specific disorder. Now you are aware. Tell your neighbours, teach your children. Mankind neds to change course NOW!