The willingness of, for example, generations of the elite to fight those devastating wars over oil-rich regions is a perverse side effect of the ming… - Charlie Kirk
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The willingness of, for example, generations of the elite to fight those devastating wars over oil-rich regions is a perverse side effect of the mingling of private interests and public power. Just as government subsidies for pharmaceutical purchases start looking like a great idea if your family is in the pharmaceutical industry (or, like Medicare Part D architect and former senate majority leader Bill Frist, the hospital management industry), your family being in the oil business just might make you more willing, on a subconscious level, to tolerate great sacrifices (on the part of others, including taxpayers) in the name of keeping the black lifeblood of industry flowing.
Charles James Kirk (October 14, 1993 – September 10, 2025) was an American right-wing political activist, author, and media personality. He co-founded the conservative organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012 and served as its executive director. In 2025, he was shot and killed while speaking at a public event.
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Wikimedia Commons, Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America (CC BY-SA)
She also defended law enforcement officials who got convictions by withholding evidence or falsifying confessions. It is terrifying to think that about an eighth of the US prison population lives in a state with such a coldly bureaucratic conception of justice. (She may have had coldly careerist notions about sex back in the ’90s as well, since she notoriously slept with San Francisco assembly speaker Willie Brown, who was still married at the time, as he appointed her to a series of well-paid city positions.)
But the two parties were never quite literally opposites in their philosophies. The old Democrat formula, ideally stated, was something like: a big welfare and regulatory state combined with an American military subordinated to big international alliances and treaty organizations. The old Republican formula, ideally stated, was something like: free trade, big business, opposition to welfare, legislation defending traditional morality (such as pushing for pro-life measures when possible), plus never-ending military engagements overseas, with every dictator around the world due to become our fighting foe eventually.
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Trump’s approach to healthcare may be the best example of the new conservative approach. In the past, the parties have had to decide whether to side with big businesses, the insurance companies, the hospitals, or the American Medical Association if they wanted to get anything done. Instead, Trump has repeatedly sided with individuals and small businesses.
