Conservatives have upheld the same image for a very long time. Just the word ‘Republican’ evokes pictures of a business executive, wall street worker, well established farmer or some other form of what tends to be an old, rich white guy. 2017, however, has changed the face of conservatism for good.
During Donald Trump’s campaign, he appealed to many conservatives that did not exactly fit the tidy bill of a traditional Republican. His messages garnered support from hate groups many thought were long gone, such as the Klu Klux Klan and the Neo-Nazi movement. Traditional, establishment Republicans have rightfully refused to acknowledge these hate groups, but Trump did not. He stepped aside from the GOP and did not outright denounce the support of known racists and bigots. This campaign tactic may have been what won Donald Trump the election, and certainly what has given rise to many fringe conservative groups in recent news.
In the past, conservatives have always been the ones to speak out against the counterculture. The antiwar movements and hippie movements of the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s were all seen as going against established societal norms, many of which aligned with conservatism. The activism of this era was so vehemently against anything spoken by famous Republicans such as Ronald Reagan that it began to be affiliated with liberals and the Democratic party. Counterculture movements have historically been an anti-conservative movement, from speaking out against repressive policies and war to fighting for the environment
Recently, however, Trump’s new breed of conservatism has caused a switch and created a new political counterculture that opposes almost all of the previous movements. The rise in popularity of fake and polarizing publications such as Infowars and an uptick in membership to local militia groups such as the “Three Percenters” signifies a new age in counterculture. These groups claim Republican as their party, and vote along the same lines. This means the Republican party and conservatives are experiencing a change in guard, becoming the part of society that they looked down upon only a generation beforehand. Establishment Republicans should be careful to associate with this movement, and should be outraged that their party named is shared by people like this.
The counterculture conservative movement has taken many docile establishment republicans and morphed them into racists and counterculture conservatives that seem to need to discredit the most accepted facts. Take for instance, the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality. While around 83% of people in the United states supported what net neutrality stood for, some of the remaining 17% decided that net neutrality was some sort of liberal manifesto to keep us all as slaves to the government (which is probably ruled by lizards, by the way). Infowars is littered with articles like this explaining all of the problems of net neutrality, read at your own risk.
Famous conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh joined in on the fun too, claiming that the coverage of Hurricane Irma was a plot by the sick media to hype up climate change, not a way to warn citizens that they should prepare for a very high strength hurricane. Infowars and Breitbart are famous fear-mongering propaganda websites that not only distort the truth, but produce outright inflammatory conspiracy theories.
Counterculture conservatism is a threat not only to the democratic processes of the United States, but to the GOP and much more. Republican or not, it is scary to see members of established hate groups claiming they belong on the conservative side of the isle. Counterculture conservatism gives a platform to inflammatory propaganda, racists and supremacists and has no place in any modern democracy.
Photo via Flickr user Blink O’fanaye
