In his book The Wrecking Crew, Thomas Frank observed
that only one thing always holds true about American conservatives: “The
interests of business are central and defining, while every other aspect or
strategy of the movement is mutable and disposable. Indeed, even the cult of
the free market, which appears to be such a solid, fixed element of the
business mind, is malleable as well, with conservatism handing out the bailouts
as soon as the going gets tough on Wall Street.
“These mutations are
particularly remarkable when considered as the statements of a movement that
claims to ground itself in ‘tradition.’ One year, the working-class,
values-voting ‘hard hats’ are trumpeted as all-American heroes; on another
occasion, they are an uppity canaille requiring a whiff of grapeshot. Thinly
veiled racism elects a host of Republican free marketeers; soon afterward, the
system’s big thinkers can be heard proclaiming racism to be the great enemy of
free markets. Patriotism is a virtue under all circumstances — until the time
comes to declare the nation-state a relic of the protectionist past. Combat
veterans are to be venerated — until they run for office as liberal Democrats.
Even communism itself becomes perfectly acceptable when, as in Red China, it
mutates into a way of enforcing market discipline.
“The needs of business
stand like a rock; all else is convenience, opportunism, a bit of bushwah
generated by some focus group and forgotten the instant it is no longer
convincing. Fundamentally amoral, capitalism is loyal to no people, no region,
no heroes, really, once they have exhausted their usefulness — not even to the
nation whose flag the wingers pretend to worship.”
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