“Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights.”
I don’t believe there is anything wrong with keeping tradition as long as those traditions are not forced on others. However I have always believed that the idea of property rights was an extremely destructive one. Such a notion implicitly supports some having a lot of property and others having none. In my mind the indigenous peoples idea that the land belongs to everyone, is the right one. Those who own property are generally entitled to do whatever they want without regard to our jointly held earth, or their neighbors.
Strangely enough the Burkian notion lodged within the definition of conservatism, puts forward the idea that those of us who are living have contractual obligations to those who are yet to be born. This central tenant of conservatism has been completely ignored by most Republicans through their attitudes and policies towards addressing and mitigating climate change. In addition their intentions towards preserving and nurturing the human species and race as a whole is non existent.
“The Republican Party has since been defined by social conservatism, a preemptive war, foreign policy intended to defeat terrorism and promote global democracy, a more powerful executive branch, supply side economics, support for gun ownership and deregulation.”
Since most who occupy positions of power within the Republican party are white and male, we can say that besides adopting aspects of Burkian conservatism, this party is also governed by patriarchy.
“Patriarchy is a social system in which those who hold the primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property are men. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.”
If one think of the Chinese symbol of ying and yang one can clearly see why partiarchy is and always has been a death blow to our planet.
“Yin and yang (or yin-yang) is a complex, relational concept in Chinese culture that has developed over thousands of years. Briefly put, the meaning of yin and yang is that the universe is governed by a cosmic duality, sets of two opposing and complementing principles or cosmic energies that can be observed in nature.”
We keep bees and I’ve been thinking a lot about bees recently, so I thought without further explanation I’d write about them. Perhaps they’ll survive what we cannot because of the dominance of conservatism, patriarchy, and Republicanism in our worldwide political and social systems. That dominance as you so rightly say James, is there because all conservative males will do anything, including destroying the planet, to keep political and economic power.
In the US this includes voter suppression, gerrymandering and forcing the majority of us to live under rules and laws currently being established by a minority of citizens. The 47 Senators who are Democratic represent 40 million more Americans than the 53 Republicans.
In a bee colony this system of social organization we’ve adopted would not allow the colony to survive. And neither will we. I already see our cosmic gravestone, Requiescat in pace earth humans, a species that tried but failed.
Sadly this will happen because there are not enough of us liberals in powerful positions around the world, ones who support a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law, to turn the tide.
Also it’s too late to learn to live like bees and produce copious pots of honey — 40 this year!
“Honey bees are social insects, which means that they live together in large, well-organized family groups. Social insects are highly evolved insects that engage in a variety of complex tasks not practiced by the multitude of solitary insects. Communication, complex nest construction, environmental control, defense, and division of the labor are just some of the behaviors that honey bees have developed to exist successfully in social colonies. These fascinating behaviors make social insects in general, and honey bees in particular, among the most fascinating creatures on earth.
A honey bee colony typically consists of three kinds of adult bees: workers, drones, and a queen. Several thousand worker bees cooperate in nest building, food collection, and brood rearing. Each member has a definite task to perform, related to its adult age. But surviving and reproducing take the combined efforts of the entire colony. Individual bees (workers, drones, and queens) cannot survive without the support of the colony.
In addition to thousands of worker adults, a colony normally has a single queen and several hundred drones during late spring and summer. The social structure of the colony is maintained by the presence of the queen and workers and depends on an effective system of communication. The distribution of chemical pheromones among members and communicative “dances” are responsible for controlling the activities necessary for colony survival. Labor activities among worker bees depend primarily on the age of the bee but vary with the needs of the colony. Reproduction and colony strength depend on the queen, the quantity of food stores, and the size of the worker force. As the size of the colony increases up to a maximum of about 60,000 workers, so does the efficiency of the colony.”
