At least that's what you'd think if you listen to what passes for conservatism in the US now. If it wasn't written by Antonin Scalia, anything that comes out of the federal government is evil.
Affordable health care? Evil. It's a socialist plot to take away...something. I'm not clear what. Individuals still choose their doctors. Private health insurance companies are the cornerstone of the plan, so they're not being eliminated. People who don't pay for health insurance now are required to pay into the system. Got me how that's different from a tax. Of course, there's the more recent hype that employers are forced to pay for health care to which they have a moral objection. Naturally, the objections are only about women's health care and reporductive choices. Nothing about a moral objection for men's erections or smokers. It's a very selective moral objection that targets only women.
Gay marriage? Evil. The Bible says so. Never mind that gay marriage is only binding on civil authorities, not religious ones. Never mind that gay couples are deprived of privileges extended to hetorsexual married couples. Equal Protection Clause? Commity Clause? Avert your eyes. Those parts of the Constitution are superseded by the Bible.
Taxes? Evil. All of them. Today's conservatives haven't met a tax they didn't oppose. They've completely missed that their messiah, Ronald Reagan, not only didn't oppose all taxes, he actually imposed some. Of course, for this lot, the greatest good can only be achieved by concentrating wealth in the hands of a few. Why, we all have a chance of becoming the few (despite the logical fallacy that relies upon). Don't take money from the 1% because you might be in that 1% someday. Right. All 99% of us will someday have our 5 minutes as the 1%. Not how it works. Taxes help us all. That's what they're for.
Obama? Greatest evil ever to befall the United States. He consipires against each and every American personally in his ongoing mission as a communist/fascist/socialist/radical Muslim. He's spying on you right now. Yes, you reading this at this very moment. Obama is watching over your shoulder. Quick, turn and look. You might just catch him. But maybe you better not. If he knows you've seen him he'll take away... Well, it's your paranoid imagination. You fill in what you think he'll take away.
The sad fact is, the GOP, as controlled by a small, radical element that calls itself conservative, doesn't appear to be for anything, with the sole exception of concentrating wealth in the hands of a few. Everything else is only about demonizing what others favor, even when it's something the GOP used to favor (yes, I'm talking about you, Mitt Romney).
Despite the sound and fury of this movement on the outside, and the daily support of Faux News, this is a recipe for marignalization. It's not just that demographics support Democrats. This agenda of paranoia and anger is bound to turn off the largely white independent voters that are necessary for a candidate to win as President. While gerrymandered Congressional districts will continue to give the GOP a voice in the House, in the end this tack is going to lead to a weak GOP, and that's bad for the US. An opposition needs to have ideas for governance. You can't govern if your core belief is that government is evil. All you're advocating is the dismantling of the government, also known as anarchy (oddly contradicted by an advocacy for unlimited defense spending, a recipe for eventual military coup if ever there was one), voters are not going to flock to your banner.
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