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Conservative Principles Demand Taking Sledgehammer to U.S. Capitol?

Even though part-time Governor Kristi Noem happily uses government to force behavior of her preferred kind on doctors, pregnant womentransgender athletes, and taxpayers (who have to support bribes for and stop passing local regulations against the party/family business of concentrated animal feeding operations), she insists on Twitter that “We should not be in the business of forcing behavior of any kind on to the people.” But her libertarian tweet carries a disturbingly insurrectionist image:

Kristi Noem, tweet, 2021.08.31.
Kristi Noem, tweet, 2021.08.31.

I know: the right-wing Washington Times chose the illustration for Noem’s little essay, not Noem herself. But when we are working to bring to justice hundreds of terrorists who vandalized the United States Capitol, attacked Capitol police and democracy, and threatened to kill members of Congress and the Vice-President of the United States, do you really want to spread images of your party taking a sledgehammer to the United States Capitol?

Photo by Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images; screencap from Tom Dreisbach and Tim Mak, "Yes, Capitol Rioters Were Armed. Here Are the Weapons Prosecutors Say They Used," North Country Public Radio, 2021.03.19.
Photo by Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images; screencap from Tom Dreisbach and Tim Mak, “Yes, Capitol Rioters Were Armed. Here Are the Weapons Prosecutors Say They Used,” North Country Public Radio, 2021.03.19.

Noem has enough trouble expressing consistent conservative values. She also seems to have trouble recognizing that, as she seeks national attention, she has to be careful not to send messages that affirm the violent impulses that the worst of her base mistake for “conservative principles.”

15 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2021-09-13 09:50

    Can anyone name a conservative value? I used to think I knew what conservatism meant. I did, after all, support Barry Goldwater as an eighth grader. Then in ninth grade I started reading up on civil rights and found conservatives and Goldwater didn’t support civil rights legislation in the name of conservatism, even though the majority of the Republican Party in Congress voted for civil rights legislation. That’s when I figured out how fake most conservatives are. That’s when I became a liberal and a Democrat. In subsequent years Goldwater came to realize he had been wrong on civil rights, but that’s the way it is with conservatives. They vote against real conservative values, like making sure the marketplace is fair to everyone, then recant their positions years later. Like they did with civil rights, Social Security and Medicare.

    A lot of conservatives say they are pro-life, but they are not. They may be pro-fetal tissue but once the child is born, they could give a damn about that child’s life and health.

    And then there is this fetish about “government mandates.” Hey, she’s big on trying to mandate white history, but maybe she should read a bit of it. What is the Mayflower Compact, if not a call for the people to institute a government that provides certain “mandates” on how people in the community should live. That’s why govenment exists, not so Queen Noem can fly all over the US and act like her poop doesn’t stink.

  2. O 2021-09-13 09:56

    I am having more and more trouble seeing the blurred line between conservatives and anarchists. The only true way to see that difference anymore is conservatives have their hands out when they deem the government is worthy to give then some bailout for their losses.

  3. sx123 2021-09-13 10:28

    “We should not be in the business of forcing behavior of any kind on to the people.”

    Whatever.

    Enforcing rules forces behavior, and replacing ‘liberal’ rules with ‘conservative’ rules still results in rules.
    This talk about mandates is all nonsense. There are mandates/rules/laws on every city/county/state level, in every red/purple/blue state.
    Every civilized society has mandates/rules/laws.

  4. buckobear 2021-09-13 11:16

    Hell, they don’t enforce the traffic laws in Rapid City.

  5. Mark Anderson 2021-09-13 11:39

    Conservatives no longer believe in compromise since they sense their time running out. Hail Mary, full of grace sort of thingy. They also have thrown any principles they had into the wind. It’s all or nothing now. If for instance they manage to get Abortion, it will be their best and also their last act. At least it will be fun to watch, they have their own narrative now and it’s definitely in the fiction section of the library.

  6. kurtz 2021-09-13 11:51

    Jumbo shrimp
    Military intelligence
    Republican leadership
    Conservative principles
    Santa Claus
    Sani Flush
    Drano.

  7. Porter Lansing 2021-09-13 12:23

    Some rights are more right than other rights.
    Isn’t that right?
    -George Orwell

  8. Eve Fisher 2021-09-13 12:32

    Mark, even if conservatives managed to ban 100% of all abortions, they would then decide that literally every egg is sacred (not sperm – men got urges, and all that) and start checking if women are doing something to stop those eggs from dropping down into the womb.

  9. mike from iowa 2021-09-13 13:38

    Comey Barrett was at an event in Louisville, Kentucky hosted by McCTurtlefartface, claiming the scotus isn’t a bunch of magat ideologues. The only reason she and Kavernmouth and that other tool were nominated was because they are underqualified magat ideologues selected to do drumpf and McCTurtlefartface;’s bidding.

    https://www.rawstory.com/amy-coney-partisan-hack/

  10. Bill 2021-09-13 13:41

    The more Noem exposes herself the more she diminishes her relevance. Noem is fading fast.

  11. O 2021-09-13 13:57

    Sometimes I think Governor Noem forgets that she has the ability — as governor — to affect change along the ideals she speaks to. She could start with and easy one: remove the government’s backing from crop insurance. Let the free market asses risk, set premiums, and repay loss without the treasury’s backing.

  12. sx123 2021-09-13 15:32

    O, she might as well fine SD farmers for buying federal crop insurance if DeSantis is going to fine companies that require employees get covid vaccinations.
    Don’t know what game these two are playing or how they expect to attract new voters with all of this goofiness.

  13. Caleb 2021-09-13 19:20

    Ah, classic modern conservatism: limit government power so private institutions can shape more and more of our lives. Smooth roads brought to you by Domino’s! Waiting in fast food lines is nothing like livestock life!

  14. Dana Hanna 2021-09-14 09:43

    Donald Pay: Yes, I can name a conservative value: respect for the law and those who enforce it. On that point alone, there are very few real conservatives in the Republican party in Congress today. They are pseudo-conservatives. In reality, they are just good old fashion right wing radical reactionaries.

  15. mike from iowa 2021-09-14 16:33

    Larry Elder claims California recall returns are fraudulent and they have yet to be released. Elder and all magats need a sledgehammer tap or three up alongside their noggins.

Comments are closed.