I have two coworkers who are, politically, to the right. Conservatives. However, they have some differences of opinion on some policy matters, and they occupy different niches of the conservative worldview, at least as it is in the United States of America in the early 21st century.
The second one is a big, burly man, balding but with a long grey beard. He’d make a passable Santa Claus, if he’d just wear a white fur-trimmed red suit. His face is often flushed and sweaty, as it takes considerable energy to move his bulk around. He references famous philosophers and, at least to my knowledge, seems to actually understand what their various philosophies mean; he appears to be self-educated but accurately so.
He has been caught listening to music as varied as classical symphonies, abstract electronica, and garage punk. That’s when he’s not listening to the shouting, angry stylings of Libertarian paleoconservative radio host Alex Jones.
Because he supported strict Constitutionalist Representative Ron Paul (R-TX22) in the 2008 elections, and because he denies that he has anything in common with modern Libertarianism, I call him the Paulite, and I will continue to call him that in this blog.
Policy-wise, he is strongly pro-gun (which view he shares with the Palinitie), believing that only when everyone is armed can we be free from government interference. But he also has expressed a strong desire for our health care system to be nationalized single payer, not a viewpoint I would normally call “conservative”. I believe his disdain for the corporations and insurance industry informs that particular opinion.
He sees conspiracies everywhere; for instance, he believes that the attacks of 9/11 were an inside job by the “Bush crime family”, as his beloved Alex Jones will scream to anyone who listens. Any denial of the conspiracy is evidence that one is in on it, or at least sympathetic to it. Although he is knowledgeable, his inability to escape from circular thinking is a weakness: there is no evidence that can shatter his view of the conspiracy, it only reinforces it.