What do conservatives mean when they say “Liberalism is a disease”? What do they find so disagreeable about it?

By Shava Nerad
Former State Democratic Party Committeewoman, OR

When I was a child in Vermont (and I’m OLD) I was taught this:

Liberals and conservatives both serve their purpose in the republic. Liberals are the vanguard of change and improvement — but sometimes just change — and conservatives are there to grab us by the belt loops before we run off a cliff.

And I think most people (at least in Vermont) felt the same way in the 60s and 70s.

My first political mentor was Sen George Aiken, R-VT, and he was a compassionate man, not just in lip service. He worked with the USDA to create the modern SNAP program which helps our food producers control costs of perishables, and also help their neighbors at the same time. You don’t hear many headlines about people dumping zillions of gallons of milk they can’t sell, or grain rotting in silos, or stock being slaughtered for lack of a market. [update: this was early in the pandemic in the US, and now we’re in this sad circumstance. I wonder if farm insurance will cover it, or if producers will further consolidate, further endangering the family farm.]

Conservatives can actually come up with creative win-win solutions to hard social problems.

It’s currently not fashionable for anyone to compromise though, in these days of mass media. Working with other people “across the aisle” used to make you a statesman — now it makes you a target for anti-incumbency on the GOP side, particularly since the Tea Party; and among the Dems since the rise of the “democratic socialists” (actually by policy, social democrats) of “My Revolution” berners.

So for many conservatives, who are told that liberals are untrustworthy, what do they see? They see that the media is liberal (even as they are watching Fox and reading Brietbart and Town Hall). They see that the universities are liberal (despite the folks such as the oft vaunted Jordan B Peterson ( Jordan B Peterson (clinical psychologist) / Jordan B Peterson) and a significant alt-right/conservative presence on campuses).

And conservatives are afraid of losing their kids to a communicable memetic (yes, that’s the geeky origin of the term “internet meme”) and Overton Window.

After all, social conservatives have seen abortion become legal, equal rights in various sectors for LGBT*, women, and minorities, and various inroads on their morality in my lifetime. A few, like the admirably intellectually rigorous Bill Buckley had the self-reflection to see some views as an artifact of their time, and changed their minds.

But most people, left or right, conservative or liberal, are not intellectually rigorous.

And every one of these transitions feels like a disgusting insult, as much as their reversal would seem so to a liberal. It feels personal, like the agent of change is malicious.

Who wants their kids to be influenced by a malicious force?

As I’ve aged, I’ve watched globalism, multi-culturalism, religious inclusion and other liberal-embraced philosophies encroach on conservative ideals (not all liberals or all conservatives described, but for the sake of brevity I’m generalizing) to the point where 75% of Republicans believe that moves toward racial equality mean that whites face discrimination (because of loss of privilege).

In the survey, 85 percent of registered voters said that African-Americans face discrimination to some degree. That view was shared by 95 percent of Democratic respondents and 78 percent of Republicans. Eighty-two percent of independent voters agreed.

Partisans also broadly agreed that Hispanics face societal bias. Eighty-one percent of the entire sample said that Latino Americans experience discrimination, a view that was shared by 92 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents and 72 percent of Republicans.

Respondents were much more divided over whether people of European descent encounter bias in American society.

A significant majority of Republican voters, 75 percent, said that white Americans are subject to discrimination. Most independents, 55 percent, agreed.

Democrats differed strongly with only 38 percent saying that whites faced discrimination. Sixty-two percent of Democratic respondents said that European-Americans face almost no discrimination or none whatsoever.

Digest that for a moment.

To many, many white Republicans, it’s inconceivable that the “discrimination” a white person faces is what they’d call in on Wall Street a “market adjustment.”

And they don’t want their kids growing up with these truths normalized any more than a liberal wants brown kids in concentration camps normalized.

Both sides have myths they cling to: conservatives stubbornly cling to the myth of the undeserving poor and black, lobster munching welfare mom. Liberals have their own myths that ANYONE who supported Trump is a racist, or that all evangelicals support behavior unbecoming a Christian, hypocritically.

These are cherished myths. They are nearly axiomatic. And the internet means that the culture war over which myths stick to your kids is unavoidable and pernicious.

Anyone will object if you threaten to steal their kids (literally or philosophically).

I was raised in the SCLC, and Dr King taught us that to honestly and effectively negotiate with the folks “on the other side of the table,” you need to commit to understanding their needs in perfect compassion — even if that means you risk changing your own fundamental beliefs.

I don’t believe that the average liberal or conservative today would find that an acceptable exercise.