Bleeding Heart Conservatism
by modern living editor Jason Capodimonte
March 2, 2005
Condoleezza Rice has cancelled her visit to Ottawa. Apparently Canada has upset her by refusing to go along with the United States' ballistic missile defence. This normally smart and sassy gal about the White House now sobs herself to sleep at night – the ugly gash that Canada put in her heart has destroyed the part of it that used to love Canada like a sister. As the wound heals, the soft spot she had in her heart for Canada is being replaced by a bitter, angry scar. No longer will she or the administration of the United States bestow on Canada the bounty they have been generously sharing with us!
And president Bush is some mad about it, too. According to today's National Pest, he won't even return Paul Martin's calls!
Canadian conservatives, of course, are aghast. First of all, they react with anger to any violation of the Two Basic Principles of Canadian Conservatism:
Secondly, though, they are acting the way they have accused liberals of acting for decades. They are acting as if their hearts were bleeding.
- If the United States criticizes Canada, then Canada has done something wrong, and
- If Canada criticizes the United States, then Canada has done something wrong.
The bleeding heart conservative is nothing new. It's just that long ago conservatives seized the initiative by accusing liberals of having bleeding hearts, and we've overlooked their own propensity for going for the tear ducts. Over the years they've justified witch hunts as necessary to end the suffering of citizens of communist countries, anti-abortion laws as necessary to end the suffering of fetuses, capital punishment as necessary to end the suffering of families of murder victims, and now forelock-tugging when replying to Americans as necessary to spare the sensitive feelings of the American administration.
Not that this suffering doesn't (or didn't) exist, and not that ending suffering isn't a legitimate goal for public policy. But bleeding heart conservatism has the same defect as bleeding heart liberalism. It's selective about suffering.
Old-style conservatives were unmoved by the suffering of victims of racial and ethnic discrimination, because doing something about discrimination would have restricted property rights. While professing total sympathy for the oppressed citizens of communist countries, conservatives were so unmoved by the sufferings of Vietnamese citizens during the Vietnam war that many enthusiastically supported Barry Goldwater's suggestion that the United States convert Vietnam into a parking lot (or, alternatively, General Curtis LeMay's suggestion that Vietnam be bombed back to the stone age). Conservatives worry about the suffering of families of murder victims, but not the suffering of the families of the wrongfully executed. And the current quality of life in Iraq isn't getting conservatives to stock up on hankies.
To the bleeding heart, conservative or liberal, suffering is not a justification for action – or else they'd always act to alleviate it – but a rationalization of it.
As for Condoleezza Rice, I imagine a black woman who was born in Alabama during segregation and still managed to enter university at 15 is probably a bit tough. Her own dismissive comments about her stellar achievements suggest that she's way tough. She's certainly tough enough to manage a quick recovery from any dismay she felt about a decision by the leader of a country that her country more or less owns.
Her boss isn't likely to have been that offended, either. Canadian conservatives have been trying to make a lot of hay out of Paul Martin's supposed insults of George W. Bush (Mr. Bush's ambassador's insults of Canadian leaders, it goes without saying, are seen by the Republican – whoops! – Conservative Party of Canada as helpful advice that our government wilfully ignored). But you know, I think a guy who has been known to do comic impressions of a woman he arranged a lethal injection for probably has a pretty high threshold of offence.
In the end, it doesn't matter whether the American administration likes our administration or not. Brian Mulroney sucked up mercilessly to Ronald Reagan, but still got screwed on cross-border trade. Jean Chrétien's congenial relationship with Bill Clinton had the same result. So conservatives, suck it up and put away your hankies. Save your tears for when Canada's opinion ever comes to count for anything outside Canada.
Bleeding Heart Conservatism © John FitzGerald, 2005
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