Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete F.
Social science will reveal that as the Republican Party became increasingly conservative, building a base with the religious right, it became the authoritarian party. That authoritarianism revealed itself to be undemocratic and un-American.
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Sorry Mister Nostradamus, but the Republican Party has become increasingly Progressive and therefor catching up with the cloaked but still evident authoritarianism of Progressives. This current hiccup in the trend toward Republican Progressivism has been a small retreat back to the original conservatism of the earlier supporters of our founding principles--the conservation of individual liberty against the intrusive power of the Federal Government.
And the "religious right" is openly very much against the Progressive notion of an unimpeded central government. And very much for a return of federally stolen power back to the states--the original conservatism of power being held mostly by the people and their communities, not by some distant all powerful central government.
As for "social science" revealing who is authoritarian, you appear to view social science as some unified authority. Actually, social scientists are diverse in fields of study and in political persuasion which has historically changed from time to time. Economists certainly don't represent some monolithic view on what is authoritarian and which party represents that. Same for historians. Sociologists may not even think about the differences between the parties on authoritarian lines, rather, academics, and workers in the field such as social workers, may fundamentally view government as necessarily being authoritarian in order to impose what they consider necessary for social cohesion and what social experts recommend for their notion of social progress. Which is what you have admitted that you believe.
No doubt, the unabated Progressive pedagogy in our educational institutions will more and more tip the scale in the classrooms from any existing remnants of original conservatism in the social sciences toward authoritarian Progressivism in the minds and souls of future social scientists. And you may be making a distinction between "good" and "bad" authoritarianism. For you the emphasis on individual freedom at the expense of government power to do what you think is good is a bad sort of authoritarianism--the authority of the selfish individual eclipsing the power of government to dictate what is good.
As of today and the near past, there are many economists and historians who view Progressives as the greater authoritarians. You have admitted that government must be authoritarian in order to pass Progressive legislation. Which is admitting that Progressives are authoritarian.
So if Republicans become THE AUTHORITARIAN PARTY when they finally succeed in becoming bona fide Progressive Republicans, their undemocratic and un-American "good" authoritarianism should make you happy.