# Wealth, Capitalism, and The Economy

_Published 2025-03-04_

Warning: Spicy Take to follow 

I've only been alive *after* Reagan took office and systematically began
dismantling the Federal government, so my lived-experiences are already
fairly biased before I can even start talking about how "things used to
be." Others have [explained this][1] ([archive link][2]) at length, so
I'll defer to them on the background.

What I think is missing from today's _understanding_ is that modern
conservatives aren't "conservative" anymore. The republicans -- the
group that is currently in power -- are deeply weird, unserious people,
who couldn't be bothered to "perform their own research" if their lives
depended on it. (And yes, actually, their lives _do_ depend on it.)

What they've done instead is adopt the stance of your stereotypical
15-year-old American boy: 

- Remove all measures of transparency and openness
- Claim as much authority and unilateral power as possible
- Be deliberately, absurdly reductive and obtuse about things you don't
  like
- Argue for nuance and empathy for things you do like, especially
  yourself
- Act without regard for feedback, opinions, or justification

This isn't conservative or liberal. This isn't democrat or republican.
This is willingly-ignorant, stupid even versus... every one and
everything else.

How did we get here? Again, see the background link above, but I would
like to take it one step further: 

> Every illiberal, non-progressive government and political entity is
> the cause of economic, bodily, and social harm.

You can't be a conservative and "do good" because the conservative ethos
goes against the definition of "doing good things for people." To borrow
a quote from someone else, the response to the Daily Wire and all these
provocateur mouthpieces should have been: 

> "What is a woman?" Don't know and don't really care -- let's act in
> the way that causes the least suffering.

If that's not your stance, you aren't worth the skin you're in.

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IX1vw0V2MY0
[2]:https://www.gluecode.net/videos/MagaResentmentReaganTrump.mp4