A Conservative In Hollywood

Actor Tim Allen likened being a conservative in Hollywood to 1930s Nazi Germany, a comparison for which Mr. Allen received a sharp and well deserved rebuke. Of course, that response I’m sure only underscores his perspective of persecution. 

What, pray tell, is a conservative?  What does it mean to be a conservative?

Think about the functions of an automobile.  There’s a gear shift to put the car in drive to move it forward, there’s a gas pedal to set the speed one moves forward and there’s a big windshield for you see all the potential of where you’re going. 

There’s a gear shift to put the car in park to stay in place or reverse to move backward, there’s a brake pedal to  reduce speed and there’s a review mirror to help you keep an eye out for any threats that might be sneaking up on you.   

Now which of these functions is good or bad? They all have their place and purpose. Working in tandem, you can drive the car. This makes the car work.

The gas pedal is liberal; the brake is conservative. 

Now… pick one!

A car with only a gas pedal. There’s no control, speeds can reach unsafe levels, the car crash and no longer function, the driver could be injured or killed. It’s not a car, it’s death trap shaped like a car. 

But a car with only a brake? To be blunt, what is the point of the car? It has no function, no purpose. It’s not a car, it’s just a piece of metal shaped like a car. 

OK, gas or brake? Pick one!

Well, you can’t. You understand that’s stupid, right?

Yet…

In Washington DC, Congress and the President have picked a car with only a brake. It’s all about stopping everything: food programs for children and the elderly, environmental protections, health care.  What can be destroyed? What can be rolled back? How many things can be stopped? How much more can they say “no’ to?

It’s all about the brake and only the brake. So what’s the point of a car?

There is value in having someone say “Hold on a minute! Have we thought about this? How are we going to pay for it? What do we hope to accomplish? Where exactly is it that we want to go and what are we specifically going to do when we get there?” There is value in a conservative viewpoint.

In a community like Hollywood, chasing ephemeral dreams made of light, I imagine it is tough for a conservative like Tim Allen in that town. But if Mr. Allen wants to wear the banner of conservative, he needs to be prepared to answer for those politicians in Washington, DC acting in the name of being “conservative”. Because times are getting dark in the US capitol: Who is going to be denied help? How many? Not enough? How many more? 

If Tim Allen equates being a conservative in Hollywood to 1930s Nazi Germany, he should be bear in  mind that unlike the Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and more in 1930s Nazi Germany, Tim Allen still gets to walk the streets freely and still be an asshole in public.

If Tim Allen is a conservative, can he defend what’s happening in Washington in the name of “conservative values”? I don’t think he can. Better to be the victim of “liberal Hollywood” than to defend the indefensible.

More about this next time.