They're not conservative; they're anti-democracy

 A militant anti-democracy movement is making gains in taking over the country.  One of their latest coups was in a large school district near Denver.  Four "conservatives" on a seven-member school board fired the superintendent in a power-play that broke the rules that govern how such decisions are supposed to be made.  Their motives appeared to be only to exercise power and had nothing to do with educational issues or serving the community.  Their sole purpose was to assert authority and assume control of the school district.

In another incident on another front, but driven by the same motive, Minneapolis police went into an apartment where the resident's cousin, 22-year-old Amir Locke,  was asleep with a gun nearby and blew him away with three shots as he woke up and grabbed for the gun.   Locke was not wanted for anything by law enforcement, and friends and family said he was, in fact, a mellow kind of guy.  But he did not survive an encounter in his sleep with an idiot with a gun.  

These incidents expose the big lie about America.  That lie is that the nation is about "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."  The superintendent did not have the liberty to explain the way he did his job.  Amir Locke did not have the right to life. And chasing after any happiness is beside the point.  If a person does not conform and subject himself to the notional commands of "conservatives," he can be terminated.  In their minds, anyone's rights but their own are alienable. 

These people call themselves conservatives, but they are, in fact, anti-democracy.  The thought of things like equality and the inalienable right-to-life makes them foam at the mouth and go into shooting rages.  They aren't about conserving the principles of American rights, but are devoted to finding ways to violate them.  A branch of American conservatism has lurched off into outright nazism. 

It raises the question of why meanness and stupidity occur together.  It may be that being called stupid makes people mean.  Or it could be that meanness numbs the brain cells.  Whatever the conditions of occurrence, ill will seems to concentrate in stupid people.  And much conservatism expresses itself in terms of ill will.  

This was apparent during the presidency of Donald Trump.  He exuded malice.  He and his supporters made it clear that they weren't offering a way to administer democracy.  They were against democracy.

Even though we are in a respite from an assault against democracy, we should not forget for a moment that the opponents of democracy are still out there, waiting for a chance to subvert it.  They will take over school boards.  Some will attack when they think  we're asleep.  To those who think their status is determined by how many people they can disparage and look down upon, democracy is an enemy--although they like it for themselves.  Just not for others.

Democracy is in constant peril from those conservatives who want a return to feudalism with them in the ruling class.