What Good Exists In The Right-Wing?

That is a question that I have given a great deal of thought to and have relied on history to help answer.
The right, in the US, arguably dates to James Town, that is to say its roots can be found in protestant fundamentalism; Baptists and Presbyterians. The right has always been dogmatic to be sure, but for the purposes of this thread, it’s safe to say that the right-wing, as such, doesn’t appear until the robber baron age of 1865 when the labor movement in this country was assembling again against the mine and rail road owners. The Red Scares of the early twenties and up until Mccarthy can be said to be the beginning of the right-wing as we know it today, not of course forgetting earlier times.

I won’t include the post civil war south as right –wing; at the time, because that was really more a cultural phenomenon than an actual political one, up until civil rights. Having said that, and of course the history of the right-wing can be debated, it occurred to me, to try and find something productive about the right –wing with respect to the history of, or the welfare of this country at any time. I reject out of hand any notions that the founders were anything close to right-wing or conservative; so be forewarned, that title was another one held by the crown at the time and the founders bucked it all the way into war.

The right-wing however, in my mind, and through a study of politics and history has not produced one benefit, either socially or economically in this country. I have asked this question on other forums, and outside of typical knee-jerk re-actions, none that consider themselves to be on the right can think of, or better yet show any examples of what the right-wing has done for this country that could be considered positive. It’s always just about being anti-liberal and that’s it.
So, I’ll try again here: what has the right done to make this country a better place to live? Security doesn’t count because there are no politics in foxholes – we all participate.

So, for you righties, this is your chance to shine and tell people what good you are and what you're doing for this country instead of just what's aginast it.

 

Won the Cold War and restored the American economy after 15 years of major problems with some 20 years of near continous prosperity.

Not a bad effort.

 

We could have just not given the Soviet Union as much aid during WW2, and met them at Russia instead of letting them take over Eastern Europe. We probably could have even taken them on.

 

Or not fired MacArthur and nuked both them and China during the Korean War.

 

My solution is simpler. Let them and the Nazis take care of eachother. Step in at the right moment.

 

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Maybe we should have sent an assassin to kill a young Georgian monk, but at that time his name wouldn't have even been Stalin.

 

We kind of freed the slaves. But you're right. I guess that wasn't really very good.

 

Well this isn't the French parliament, so what is your definition of 'Right-Wing'?

 

No! It's A Conspiracy! They Wanted The Sovet Union Around So They Could Have A Cold War And Take The United States Farther To The Right!

 

Soooo he could not think of one thing? WOW, they don't make Dems like they use too......LOL
I guess he figures they got them back as slaves again,,,mmmmm

 

The Republicans have kept this country Capitalistic, without them the Liberals would have us all drinking Vodka...So you might say they kept us the Richest country, and the most powerful in the world. You said do not mention defense but your wrong, we would not have half the size of our Military if not for them...

So lets see, so far

Freed the slaves

Made us the richest

Made us the most Powerful

Won the Cold War

Kept us Capitalists.

Not bad so far....seems without them we would have been squat!

Why is it the Libs only think about freebies????, that's not what our Constitution was about. It was about being independent, not grubbers...

 

The conservitvies did no free the slaves......republicans were on the left back then

 

This is all the Right have. The assertion that everyone else is a communist.

The OP question is silly because it does the sme thing from the opposite perspective.

Economic liberalism is often associated with the modern right wing (although Clinton was pretty much in this mold too). There were times in US history when a New Deal approach led to American greatness (and a knock on benefit for the world). There were other times when economic liberalism was needed as an antidote to a soggy welfarism that had developed on the back of a victim politics approach to society.

 

Unfortunately, I doubt the OP will see these as good things. Most libs hate this about America. They hate that we're rich and powerful. They consider American exceptionalism to be "imperialistic." Their goal is to eventually make us just another country like everybody else. It's "only fair" that way.

 

You know the fact that conservatives really might believe this stuff is sad. There is so much that is interesting in a world with nuance, judgement and subtlety. They miss out so much in their puritan intolerance. This determination to create angels and demons out of Left and Right can only be analogous with what totalitarians do. The complete lack of wonder at ideas and how they interplay is a sad result of the stunted philistinism of most of today's Right.

Liberals want to see American leadership based on its moral superiority. This has precedent. After the second world war America was seen as the civilizing power, when it was the liberal guarantor of freedom around the world. Any serious analyst knows that a country with only 5% of the world's population cannot remain pre-eminent forever. The question is what world America will lead us into. What is the pst American world? The American world contains all that is best about Britain. Will the new world be led by American values or not?

Intelligent conservatives, like Niall Fergusson, hated by the Left for his support of Bush Wars and a neocon appetite for nation building, argue that not only is America an imperial nation, but that it should relish this role more openly and that American imperialism can have positive, civilizing impacts. This is much harder for the Left to take issue with than peurile strawmen inventd abusively like the one I quote above.

American leadership will be a fact of life for a while now but eventually the emerging productiveness of 3 billion people in China and India will offer clear opportuniies for all our children and the mutual growth in all our prosperity that will follow as a result will also see the relative position of the West's power change. Will tomorrow's Asian leaders follow American or European examples of rational thought, tolerance, laissez faire and liberty or will they justify an historic authoritarianism with a glance at Western "hypocrisy" and "treachery"?

 

Let's see.

The right in USA has governed for the las 200 years, so they have done many things.

But, if we consider as right to the conservative and neoconservative people. Then they only give troubles and inestability. Also is the position closer to fascism.

And to the rest of posters, you must analyze the politics made a one hundred years ago, and we can see clearly that the Republicans of that period were more liberals than democrats. So who have made progress USA always have been the liberalism, never the conservatism.

 

And why America must be imperialist? And going spreading for the world his values. Values that for example I didn't ask, and many of them are oppresive and for me harmful.

 

I think China is about as liberal as it's going to get, considering it's history.

 

booooooring.

 

Yeah like freedom of speech, freedom to choose your government and to get rid of them too, freedom of the press, freedom to be gay, freedom for women to be treated as equals...these are universal values. America sometimes stands for these and when it does tyrants feel threatened by the spirit American leadership gives to their own people.

When Americans imprison people without trial, torture prisoners, are cavalier about civilian deaths, term journalists terrorists, position American firms for special privileges, overthrow elected governments...then tyrants rejoice at the hypocrisy which will only stengthen their own hand by showing democracy to be a sham.

America can choose how it goes out over the next four decades. Either as a churlish, narrow self centred bully to be forgotten or a great leader that will leave its legacy to the whole world and see that world largely made in its image. I truly hope for the second, so the post American world retains the best of the American spirit.

 

Well that's a big subject.

Many Chinese look to the USA. Right now they see its techochracy as something to be emulated and its political nature as a clever hypocrisy to be rejected. This is not good. But it doesn't need to be like that.

 

The United State's political system is a hypocrisy. But I doubt even it's leanings toward "technocracy" will last. It never has.

 

But values like the freedom to be gay is relative, while they don't have the same rights...

And that values aren't American. That values that you mention in the first paragraph are universal more or less. And about USA, nowadays is the one described in the second paragraph, and this one isn't much better than the rest of the tyrants.

USA needs to change their ideas of greater good and similar things. Also their ideas aren't the best, for example the strong individualism, that egoism and greed, the economic model that they defend that is injust and inequalitarian...

 

Perhaps we "righties" as you put even bother? Given your clear cut bias. As demonstrated by the fact that you lied about who it was that ran the south during the civil war. And about who it was (Democrats) that opposed civil rights.

However this said the only political good around is on the right
Because the right is who it is which support such things as freedom,liberty,equality,and Constitutional government. Whereas the left embrace's Soviet style socialism oppression tyranny and rule by dictate and fiat.

Anymore questions?

 

Bull gays enjoy the very same rights anyother citizen enjoy's.

See ladies and gents this is the fundamental flaw with liberal reasoning
They cannot tell the difference between a right and legally recognized privilege.