A couple of days ago I went into the drug store to pick up a prescription. As I walked through the aisle on my way to the pharmacy I overheard a woman, who I could not see, say: “It’s tough nowadays. I’m glad I have a job, but I hate that I have to pay for those who are too lazy to work.”

I interpreted this to mean: “My taxes are too high because of all the lazy people that they have to support.” Then I thought, “what a clear expression of a conservative or Republican point of view.”

To me, it says everything you need to know about what’s at the heart of a conservative belief system: selfishness and greed. Here are some variations on the how the belief system can be stated:
I’ve got mine, you get you own.
If you don’t have a job, you’re lazy.
Why should I help you?
It’s a dog eat dog world.
If you’re poor, it’s your own fault.
Government handouts make people lazy.
Why work when the government will pay you not to work?
Why punish the people who are successful?
I don’t want to pay for them.

The philosophy is based on fear—fear of them—the bad ones, the ones who don’t belong here, the lazy ones, the takers. It’s based on judging them to be less worthy, on making them underserving of compassion or kindness. Conservatism—with its emphasis on judging each person’s individual worthiness, its unwillingness to share, its lack of empathy and its fundamental disregard for the humanity of others—equals greed. Conservatism is a philosophy that justifies greed, sees wealth as virtuous, believes using wealth to gain power is just, and thinks government assistance promotes weakness.

This philosophy is not in the best interest of anybody, even the wealthy, because it inevitably leads to a society with unsustainable levels of wealth disparity—cancerous wealth—that has historically led to social unrest and violence.

Having said all of that, conservatives also have some beliefs that are good for society. Individual self-reliance and personal responsibility, which does not mean refusing assistance and support—benefits not only the individual but also the society as a whole, but only if these virtues are exercised in a positive, contributory way.