Conservatives, Libertarians, and the Perpetuation of White Male Privilege

Krugman’s opinion column in the NYT is a good read for anyone who cares about US political battles that are generally framed as conservatives vs liberals. I loved it for a few reasons, but as, often happens, he encapsulates things I try and fit into words in ways that I can’t.  I’ve been trying for sometime to write posts which highlight the connectivity between race, economic opportunity, and queer issues. He hits the nail directly on the head:

All of this makes no sense if you think of liberalism versus conservatism as a simple argument about the size and role of the state. But it makes perfect sense if you follow Corey Robin, who sees it as being all about the protection of traditional hierarchy:

For that is what conservatism is: a meditation on, and theoretical rendition of, the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back.

it was also a staunch supporter of Jim Crow — which wasn’t just about the right of white business owners to discriminate against blacks, it was about a system of laws designed to protect white privilege.

Conservatives are not really libertarians, even if the use libertarian rhetoric as a cover for their government as control agenda. Krugman uses Rick Santorum, as an example.

Someone like Rick Santorum firmly believes that the government has no right to tell business owners what they can do in the workplace, but has every right to tell ordinary citizens what they can do in the bedroom.

Contemporary efforts like voter suppression and rigid immigration controls are about preserving what a privileged class has and realizes it is losing. The work of the NRA to attack all gun laws is designed to help perpetuate fear of white men with guns, and at the same time impede fighting real gun violence, which is often within minority communities.

What does this have to do with gay republicans? Really everything. If we recognize the GOP as a desperate party fighting tooth and nail to maintain a traditional straight white hierarchy, we have to see that there is no real room there for the gays, except as pawns doing the work of their masters.

This is not to say there isn’t value of trying to create change from within. But if you ever wonder why a group like GOProud seems so fringe lunatic… well now you know. We won’t see dramatic changes within the GOP in support of LGBT issues as long as the GOP is predominately a party of older white men.  Fairness is against their values.

I think this also explains why some gays are drawn to the GOP. They are tired of being on the outside of the privileged set of those who have things, and see a path towards having their share by getting on the inside. But on the inside, there is no real room for them, other than to serve their masters.