At a lavish oceanfront California ballroom on Sunday, Charles Koch told over 450 wealthy conservative acolytes that political campaigns run by both he and his brother David were comparable to a variety of other “freedom movements,” such as campaigns for women’s suffrage, independence from Great Britain, and the abolition of slavery.
From The Washington Post:
“Look at the American revolution, the anti-slavery movement, the women’s suffrage movement, the civil rights movement. All of these struck a moral chord with the American people. They all sought to overcome an injustice. And we, too, are seeking to right injustices that are holding our country back.”
Since American conservatives, by and large, seem to have no problem swallowing bullshit rhetoric like a starving orphan given a piece of bread, comparisons such as this are the norm. They provide fulcrums for everything from speeches to punditry and full-on political campaigns. Comments like this crap are the backbone of American conservatism.
And people wonder why there are a ton of list-articles entitled “X Stupid Things Conservatives Say.”
I mean, seriously, how in the hell does Charles Koch do something as stupid as comparing his political campaigns to women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement with straight face? More importantly, how is it that a room of 450 presumably intelligent people buy it? Are these people really that stupid? Do they know Koch is blowing smoke up their asses, but have just chosen not to react?
I don’t know. This is the part of conservatism I still find difficult to understand. How do people — many of whom display at least some degree of intelligence and comprehension — not only listen to ridiculous rhetoric like the crap Charles Koch said in California on Sunday, but agree with it and promote it themselves?
Perhaps I may never fully understand how commentary such as Koch campaigns being equatable to “freedom movements” become conservative gospel.
