Who is the most socially conservative Democrat on the forum?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Surprised to see Cory's name hasn't been mentioned yet...

Why would it be?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Surprised to see Cory's name hasn't been mentioned yet...

Why would it be?

I think you could argue that his views on eugenics/AIDS go beyond conservative.

His AIDS statement does have a resemblance to some extreme early 90s right-wing rhetoric, but that's just one issue.  I didn't see anything conservative about his eugenic views. Far from it - it's a belief in improving human nature. 

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Surprised to see Cory's name hasn't been mentioned yet...

Why would it be?

I think you could argue that his views on eugenics/AIDS go beyond conservative.

His AIDS statement does have a resemblance to some extreme early 90s right-wing rhetoric, but that's just one issue.  I didn't see anything conservative about his eugenic views. Far from it - it's a belief in improving human nature. 

Eugenics, however, was an at least semi-popular view in the early 20th century and contains elements of Hitler-esque thought.  I don't think you can say that such a view is progressive, especially since it's rooted at least partially in hate.

You know what else was popular in the early 20th century?  Progressivism. Even though support for eugenics was not limited to progressives, and many progressives opposed it, there was a lot of overlap.  You can't say Hitler supported something and was a right-winger, therefore someone else who supports it must also be a right-winger.  Hitler's eugenic views weren't right-wing because they were eugenicist, they were right-wing insofar as they were part of a larger ideology.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Surprised to see Cory's name hasn't been mentioned yet...

Why would it be?

I think you could argue that his views on eugenics/AIDS go beyond conservative.

His AIDS statement does have a resemblance to some extreme early 90s right-wing rhetoric, but that's just one issue.  I didn't see anything conservative about his eugenic views. Far from it - it's a belief in improving human nature. 

Eugenics, however, was an at least semi-popular view in the early 20th century and contains elements of Hitler-esque thought.  I don't think you can say that such a view is progressive, especially since it's rooted at least partially in hate.

And you being a progressive, progressivism must be good, and thus could in no way contain hate.

Now you're getting it!

But in all seriousness, racism and hate are generally not considered progressive views by any means, even if we don't consider them conservative or center-right ones.  Keep in mind that even progressivism of today is considered far different than the progressivism of, say, Woodrow Wilson's time.  Was Hitler's support for eugenics considered part of a larger ideology?  Yes, and that needs to be considered when judging if a particular view is more to the left or more to the right.  I think you can argue that Cory's views are part of an ideology that's certainly not compatible with modern progressivism, and that those views far outweigh any support he might have for say, gay marriage and abortion rights.

It is precisely in large part because of the Nazi experience that eugenics went out of favor with the mainstream left and right in America.  It's not very compatible with modern conservatism either, at least not of the religious conservative or traditionalist type (and historically it was more associated with either Darwinists or the Social Gospel than with fundamentalists or of course Catholics).  It shouldn't be surprising that those who support eugenics in the contemporary context tend not to be the people who object to stem cell research, for example.   Would you consider Peter Singer a social conservative?  I would not.