Virtue signaling parties are part of life for American conservatives. Where are these virtue signaling parties? Turn on the Rush Limbaugh Show and then Sean Hannity. Virtue signaling has become a genuine gold mine.

So, why not change the country? Why not repeal laws and close government agencies? There is no way to do conservative things. The very folks who virtue signal the most are the ones who benefit most from big government. The optimum position to occupy in the the United States is to personally be unbounded by any limitations the free market imposes but to have everyone else controlled by price competition and other aspects of a free market system. Virtue signaling allows right wingers who want free market restrictions on all others but not themselves to feel good about themselves.

Well before the stock market crashed in 1929 Calvin Coolidge blocked attempts to increase the role of the Federal Government in the economy. That was the last time a president of the United States did an actual conservative thing.  Today the conservative movement consists of multitudes of citizens talking conservative rhetoric and presenting themselves as living life the right way and having the values the country needs. Ostensibly, when everyone’s mind is “right”, the free market will miraculously return, freedom will abound and “America Will Be Great Again.”

So when a new president takes over or the composition of congress changes what does that mean for the country? Usually it means a different group will have access to government to be used as a tool to extract benefits out of the overall population.

When laws are being repealed and government agencies are being closed, that will be a sign conservatives are in charge of the country. Will that happen? It will not happen in our lifetimes.

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