Justin Rosario Knocks Down Strawpeople

Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" Rosario (that's what he calls himself) had a piece called "Crazy Conservative Contradictions". There's more straw around there than a barn. Notice you won't see sources cited in the original piece.

There’s a reason liberals look at conservatives like they might be insane. Often, a conservative will say one thing and then, almost immediately, contradict it.

Actually, it is Leftists who usually reach their positions through feelings, and thus have many contradictions. Most "constradictions" of conservatives are only contradictions if one refuses to look beyond how conservative positions are depicted by Leftist media types.

1. There is no need to regulate corporations!

That might a position held by some libertarians, but it is not a conservative position. Conservatives are in favor of Constitutionally-limited government, which means some regulations for any individuals or organizations, including corporations.

The free market dictates that all corporations will act in the best interest of the consumer or be put out of business by the “Invisible Hand.”

Not quite. For-profit corporations, like any business, can only stay in business by providing goods and/or services at a price and with such customer service and with such civic responsibility so as to get people to voluntarily purchase those goods and services, which may or may not actually be in the consumer's best interest. (Fast food may not be in my best interest, but I will buy it anyway. Even soft drinks over 16 oz!)  Conversely, government can simply confiscate wealth from people.

2. Corporations should have all the rights of a person.

See here. Corporations, for certain legal and financial purposes, are "persons". And yes, corporations are comprised of people who invest in them and people who form the workforce.

They should be free to exercise their First Amendment rights and buyinfluence elections just like any other citizen of the United States.

How do you stop corporations from speaking to influence elections? Who owns the Hollywood studios that fund and distribute films and television shows with Leftist viewpoints? The television networks? The "record" companies? The book and magzine publishers and sellers? The companies that produce live theatre? Leftists want David Letterman to be able to go on national television night after night and give his views, after all. But George Soros forbid some conservative businessman buy ad time or donate to a candidate.

The Contradiction: Corporations are not people so they cannot be treated like any other citizen of the United States. You can’t arrest them for manslaughter or negligent homicide even if they DID add known carcinogens to that baby food on purpose.

WRONG. One of the reasons corporations are "persons" is so that not only the inviduals, but the organization as a whole can be held criminally responsible.

Ultimate Contradiction: Unions (basically, a group of people pooling their resources) should not be allowed to influence elections. It corrupts the democratic process.

The problem with this statement is that there is a distinction between public employee unions and private sector unions. But of course, the "nuanced" Leftists don't bother to note this nuance.

3. You should never try to organize labor. That’s selfish.

Huh? Who says this? You should never force someone to join or fund the union.

Unions extort money from corporations, inflate the salaries of workers and give them unearned benefits, like maternity leave and pensions.

Hey, how about this - don't like what an employer offers? Don't work that for that employer. Slavery was abolished.

Union workers are greedy and do not care about the companies they work for. The fact that they are paid so well is a sure sign that they are wrong.

What killed GM if not union greed?

The Contradiction: How dare you try to limit CEO pay and severance packages?! Those people work hard and earn every penny they get, even if they drove the company right into bankruptcy! So what if they took billions of tax payers’ money to stay afloat, they still deserve those bonuses!

Businesses should not be offered taxpayer money unless they are performing a service for government, and nobody's pay, including the CEO's, should be set by outsiders. The owners of the company should determine the pay, and the CEO or any other employee can say "no thanks" and look for a better offer. As a shareholder, there are times I do object to certain compensation packages.

4. All liberal celebrities should shut the hell up. They don’t know what they’re talking about and should leave politics to politicians. Liberal celebrities aren’t real Americans anyway because they’re from Hollywood!

There are some conservatives who say stuff like this, but I think that everyone has the freedom of speech. However, if someone makes such a point of expressing their political opinions, I might not be able to set that aside when I see them in a role. Ever notice how Leftists hound celebrities (or even restaurant workers) that say something they don't like?

The Contradiction: Here to explain to you how liberal policies are unpatriotic and probably illegal are Victoria Jackson, Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voight.

Given that there are Republicans elected and appointed to major office who are African Americans, Vaginal Americans, and Latino Americans, by this same count Rosario will have to admit that the GOP is not overly white and male.

5. The Government cannot create any jobs at all and can never reduce unemployment, only the private sector can do that. The Contradiction: The Government has too many people on its payroll; we have to reduce the number of public sector jobs.

Government jobs do not grow the economy. They are often a drain on the economy. It is private sector jobs that grow the economy. If Bush had taken all of the Hollywood Left's money and "employed" millions of people with it (let's say to build a train nobody would use, going from nowhere to nowhere) would that have been legitimate job creation?

6. We really invaded Iraq to get rid of a terrible dictator and it had nothing to do with 9/11.

Of course it had something to do with 9/11. 9/11 changed the playing field. We had to be more aggressive.

The Contradiction: Why is Obama invading Libya?! To take down a terrible dictator?! How is that our problem?!

We'll see how things really turn out in Libya.

7. Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 because he gave the order to carry out the attack. The Contradiction: President Obama can’t take ANY credit for the death of Osama bin Laden because all he did was give the order to carry out the attack.

Of course President Obama deserves credit for making the decision. But he did not carry out the raid himself, and he used taxpayer funds to do it. OBL used his money to finance his evil terror operations.

8. Any journalist, politician or private citizen that questions President Bush during a time of war is a traitor.

This is the sort of wild exaggeration President Obama uses all of the time in speeches.

The Contradiction: During this time of war it is our patriotic duty to question President Obama about every little detail of his agenda.

We all know Leftists never ever do things they bash Republicans for doing. No, only Republicans ever act in a partisan manner. What's that? Did someone say "executive privilege"?

9. Providing billions of tax-payer money to people in dire financial straits is Socialism and will lead to the destruction of the country. The Contradiction: Providing trillions of tax-payer money to banks in dire financial straits is Capitalism and will lead to the salvation of the country.

I'm not in favor of corporate welfare or bailouts. Many, maybe most, conservatives aren't. That was a major point of the TEA Party. Does Rosario support the TEA Party?

10. We must protect innocent fetuses by any means necessary. Terrorism and assassination is justifiable because we are protecting children!

Very few people who can be called conservatives support terror or assault/murder in defense of the unborn. All signifant conservatives denounce such actions. You know, like how the Left speaks up so loudly about the crimes of environmentalist whackos? Oh they don't? Never mind then.

The Contradiction: Providing pregnant women with medical care and proper nutrition is a burden on the tax-payers and we can’t afford it. We need that money to fight terrorism!

National defense is assigned to the federal government by an obscure, pesky little thing called... oh, the Constitution. The Constitution does not permit the federal government to confiscate money from one person, and spend it on the medical care for someone's voluntary condition (remember - reproduction is a choice!) unless that person is performing a Constitutional function like serving in the military. However, there are private aid and medical organizations. Who do you think funds Crisis Pregnancy Centers?

11. Islam is a religion of terrorists! They murder innocents in the name of Allah and that’s just wrong! That’s why we’re better than they are!

Obviously, only a tiny percentage of Muslims are terrorists. However, most terroism these days is done in the name of Islam.

The Contradiction: All homosexuals should be put to death! They are the work of Satan! If we cannot pray away their gay then we must do as the Jayzus commands and stone them to death!

Name one prominent conservative who says this. Crackpot preachers roundly condemned by just about everyone else don't count. And noting that homosexual sodomy is not the same thing as heterosexual coitus, or even that homosexual behavior is wrong, is not saying that homosexual people should be put to death.

12. My freedom of religion is absolute! It says so right there in the Constitution! You can’t restrict my right to worship where and how I want!

I don't know of any prominent conservative who says this. For example, if someon's religion involves child sacrifice, they can't do it... unless they are an abortionist.

The Contradiction: Those damn Muslims keep putting up mosques wherever the hell they want! Who do they think they are?! That should be illegal!

Again, what prominent conservative says this?

13. The Constitution is inviolate! Why are liberals always trying to shred the Constitution?! The Contradiction: We should just ignore the 14th Amendment! It allows anchor and terror babies! We have to protect ourselves from the furrners!

I believe people born here are American citizens, period, and I'm not in favor of changing the Constitution to override the SCOTUS decision that says so.

14. Damn liberals always trying to select activist judges that will just “interpret” the Constitution however they want to fit their Socialist agenda! The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing and we should also follow their intent, not just make it up as we go along! The Contradiction: Citizens United? I think the Supreme Court did a fine job of interpreting the Constitution to fit our much more complex times, don’t you?

This was a non argument, so it doesn't need to be countered.

You know, there are some apparent contradictions one can find in conservatism that Rosario didn't bother to cover. Off the top of my head, I'd say the assertion that porn creates rapists and murders is one. There are some important Leftist contradictions, too, like:

Marriage is just a piece paper
Marriage oppresses women
It is vitally important that two women get a marriage license from the state

And...

There's no difference between men and women
A gay man can't be happily married to a woman

And...

Nobody can ever change their sexual orientation
Cutting off his penis, being injected with female hormones, and wearing a dress makes a man a woman