I finally realized today why Paul Krugman holds Republicans and conservatives in such contempt: He believes in a caricature of them. Check out these two excerpts from his latest NYT column:
(The right) believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.
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(The right) saw (health care) reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.
I grew up in the one of the most conservative states in the country. I started voting Republican in 1984, when I turned 18. Since 1990, I have been a student of politics (for six years literally, as a graduate student, and for 15 years professionally, as a writer and researcher). Since 1996, I have worked for a conservative think tank supported by the largest conservative foundation in the country. I'm pro-life, and I've backed up that belief by marching, by donating money, and by volunteering my time. I'm a lifetime member of the NRA. I've been a subscriber to National Review for nearly half my life.
In other words, I am fully steeped in conservatism and conservative rhetoric, have actively participated in conservative public discourse, and have spent much of my personal and professional life in the company of conservatives.
In my experience, the type of belief/rhetoric that Krugman describes is extraordinarily rare. I cannot recall a conservative ever talking about taxation as theft. The conservative movement as I know it has no more fondness for violent rhetoric than does the progressive movement. Conservatives don't see taxes and regulations, per se, as a problem, but see extremes of taxation and regulation as a problem. The vast majority of conservatives I know didn't see health care reform as a "moral outrage," either, but as an unworkable, unaffordable attempt by government to suspend basic principles of economics in the healthcare marketplace.
In short, the conservatives Krugman is describing are unlike any that I know, and are unlike the overwhelming majority I've ever read, or met, or heard give a speech.
Krugman is working from a caricature, plain and simple, most likely one nurtured during years of living in a liberal cocoon...a cocoon that protects him from genuine engagement with real conservatives and real conservatism...a cocoon in which bigoted, anti-conservative ideas and opinions are not only tolerated, but are affirmed, celebrated, and rewarded.
Footnote: If you've got some time on your hands, you can undoubtedly chase down a quote or two in which a conservative describes taxation as theft. Every movement, though, has its extremists. What I'm describing in this post is the norm...the mainstream...the center of gravity...the overwhelming majority.
Krugman writes as if the extremists ARE the mainstream.