Vern's View
“Disposed to preserving existing conditions and institutions…”
Thus does Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary define the word “conservative." It says nothing about a conservative destroying existing or traditional institutions. It says nothing about rolling back laws or favoring one group over another. The word “conservative” stems from the word “conservation,” which means to husband resources so that our way of life may be continued.
If you’re going to talk about cronies, you have to start with the ultimate crony system in the United States, the Supreme Court. These people are appointed by the president and confirmed by politicians who are almost always partisan, but somehow almost always approve the selection for the high court. Things seem to be headed for a new low in jurisprudence.
Periodically over 2½ years, I have described the elements of the conservative movement to usurp the will of the people for the sake of the will of corporations and banks. It began with corporate attorney Lewis Powell’s memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1971 calling for corporate/banking America to form groups to influence the government such that the New Deal and other liberal initiatives like civil rights got overturned. Powell, of course, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon.
Editor's note: This is the third and final installment of Turner's series about his recent trip to Uganda.
Our tour group consisted of nine Americans and two guides who drove for several tour companies. As it happened, the group quickly divided into a “conservative” vehicle and a “liberal” vehicle. As with our nation, we were deeply divided into a 5-4 split with the progressives holding the edge. Two of the four conservatives were typical of the Fox News constituency with union-bashing, Obama-hating, Muslim-fearing rhetoric. It should be noted here their driver/guide was a Muslim, but had the good sense not to say anything. It was quite entertaining to watch the conservative faces contort as our village host said the people of Uganda love U.S. President Barack Obama because he showed the world that a black man with an African father could lead a great nation. We liberals were polite enough not to stand up and cheer. Uganda, after all, had been a colony of first Germany, then Great Britain after World War II. They didn’t gain independence until 1962.
Editor's note: This is the second of Turner's three-part series on his visit to Uganda.
Our lodgings during our trip to Uganda were absolutely wonderful with site locations on bluffs overlooking the Nile River, rims of extinct volcanoes that provided vistas of water-filled calderas and the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains — the famous “Mountains of the Moon."
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