Isn't it odd?

[Fading Captain]

I work with conservatives in a conservative town.
They have a fundamental distrust of government.

On the other hand, they have an almost unwavering support of any use of force by government (abuse by cop/war/death penalty and other harsh legal penalties/torture)

[patrice]

1. Yes, that IS odd. Exceedingly!

The only explanation I can hypothesize is to infer (with all of the logical caveats that go along with inference) somekind of ESSENCE - cial death/violence impulse.

[Sinti]

2. Living in Idaho I see it all the time

They fear the government, and don't want any government intervention, but they wouldn't complain if we had jackboots on the streets and checkpoints at every major intersection. They are right to fear the kind of government they hire, they know the people they hire don't give a hoot about their well being. On the other hand, they are generally fearful people. They seem to assume that regular people must be worse, after all the so-called statesmen and leaders are crooks of the first order. It's sad, really. They think terrorists are going to bomb their less-than-1000-population town.

The authoritarian mindset is a terrified one. The only way you get people to willingly give up their autonomy is by offering to protect them from someone more frightening than lack of self-determination. It's really hard to get through to them, there are many subjects they just turn off about. If you can get them away from political and hierarchical issues usually you find a decent human being inside, who just seems to be radically removed from the reality a liberal experiences - they can be brought around this way for a short time, but they do go back to their old frame of reference pretty quickly.

[patrice]

4. Authoritarian: Desires Mastery first and foremost, whether that's "Free (ha!) Market Capitalism" or

Absolute Monarchy/State/Church/Business, they desire that everyone's minds, hearts, and souls be governed by the Almighty Other.

And they are so ignorant of (or willing for) what that means that they do not recognize that their own identification with that Absolute Monarchy/State/Church/Business (and what they mistakenly think of as their part in controlling it and, hence, being able to make the exceptions to its power as THEY see fit) is

PROOF POSITIVE OF THEIR SLAVERY TO IT.

[Sinti]

8. Yep, it's a sad situation. n/t

[arcadian]

3. I know a Navy Commander who rails against the government all the time.

Yet he gets those US Treasury Department checks every month and he cashes them.

[patrice]

5. I know one of those. A lifer. Never in Combat. Never competed in the Civilian economy.

Lectures the rest of us on the glories of competition and the sacred Warriors who are what they are for the Warriors' sake ALONE and for NO other reason or justification; I kid you not.

[arcadian]

6. Yeah this guy is a lifer too.

Trains pilots. Loves to fly. Government pays him to do what he loves most in life, flying. Went to Iraq(volunteered) because if you are in for that amount of time and don't have any combat badges then you are a lesser officer than the other desk jockeys.

[patrice]

7. The guy I know was ROTC, enlisted in the Navy shortly after highschool, was an electrical engineer

during Viet Nam, eventually became a TI, then did some desk jobs, achieved the highest non-com grade possible (HUGE retirement party several years ago), now spouts - even for the current socio-political environment - the MOST radical right-wing stuff you can imagine. Of course he's an RL listener, "socializes" only with others like him and has absolutely NO contact with other social groups, except through us, and that is reeeeaaaal warped at this point by his intolerance and un-willingness to even try to understand why other people are what they are.

It's VERY weird for us to have this permanent schism in our family. We were brought up so completely different from this.

[phantom power]

9. Conservatives believe the sole purpose of govt is force projection.

Not sure why.

[Louisiana1976]

10. I'm sure those conservatives also have an almost unwavering support

of intervention in what goes on in people's lives and the bedroom such as: abortion, birth control, LGBT issues, etc.