andallofthemwitches

[andallofthemwitches]

Sometimes it feels like you've lived your whole life in a house that's always a little bit on fire. Like it's usually just in one room and you make sure to wet the walls around it so it doesn't spread and that usually works. You were expected to take more responsibility over fire containment when you were like seven because it's not like you can expect your parents to always be 100% on guard about making sure the whole house doesn't catch fire, and you figure that's just how things are like.

And sometimes as a kid you visit your friends' homes and some of then whisper to you - grimacing with embarrassment - about how they're not supposed to tell anyone this, but there's a whole room in their house that's currently on fire. And you're like yeah it's ok I'm not supposed to tell people about the way our house is a little bit on fire all the time, too. And then you visit some other friend's house and there's no trace of fire anywhere, and you think "wow, these people are really good at hiding their house fire."

And one day you show up to work like "hey sorry I'm late, I forgot to wet the walls before going to bed last night and my whole house burned down", and you're startled by the way people react, acting like that must be the worst thing that has ever happened to you. And you're just like "chill, it's been years since the last time this happened, and it wasn't even that bad this time", and that just makes people more shocked, acting like that's the weirdest and most concerning thing they've ever heard anyone say, which only confuses you more.

And then someone tries to explain to you that people aren't supposed to have an ongoing house fire. Most people actually never experience a house fire in their lives. Like not even once. Not even a little bit. The normal amount of having your house be currently on fire is zero.

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

“I’m not conservative. I’m classical liberal” and I am a 400-foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings but you don’t see me bragging about it.

Seriously tho like… classical liberal literally just means conservative. 18th century liberalism is just modern day conservatism. 

Let’s get some definitions (some of which is regional but bear with me)

Classical liberalism emphasized the rationality and goodness of human beings, individual freedom, representative government, individual property rights, social progress through political reform, and laissez-faire economics. 

Traditionalist conservatism is “a coalition of vastly contradictory ideologies, preferences, and prejudices, aligned behind the charismatic figure of a single elderly man with no clear successor”. This is a joke. Kind of lol. Seriously tho

Conservatism is marked by a desire to conserve past social and political traditions, which for most of us in Anno Domini 2025 in countries with heritage in the “Enlightenment” means 18th century Classical Liberalism. Contemporary conservatives are similar to Traditionalist conservatives in their opposition to widespread social reform or experimentation (though it should be said even the in/famous Edmund Burke was an advocate for many liberal and reform causes). And they also believe in defense of private enterprise, laissez-faire economic policies, government abstinence from direct influence (esp taxes), and individual liberty (allegedly). 

So yeah there is not that different from Classical liberalism and Contemporary conservatism. 

Heck the Victorians are less than a hundred years later and they thought 18th century liberalism was too conservative for them. My favorite example of how “conservative” and “liberal” are incredibly fluid is lassize-faire capitalism — or, as my sister loves to say, lazy-fair capitalism. It was all the rage during the 18th century with all of there “individual rights” and “small government” and “liberty and property” and “power of the individual to shake history” stuff. And then the Industrial Revolution happened (which gave us Jane Austen and the Romantics!) and now we have a growing middle class and a whole lotta poor people without jobs. And the government? Well they don’t appear to be doing shit because: small government and liberty/property and the power of the individual to shape history. This mentality is quickly and swiftly dragged to hell by righters like Charles Dickens and John Ruskin who argued that “Um no actually the government does have the responsibility to be actively supporting its people.” 

This is the birth of what today can be broadly called “progressivism” (which is essentially the same as contemporary Liberalism): they, for the most part, maintain a belief in the rationality and goodness of human beings, individual freedom, representative government, individual property rights, and social progress through political reform, but they have divorced the lazy-faire economics thing in favor of an interventionist government who is involved in the promotion of equality of opportunity, protecting people from exploitation and discrimination, protecting the environment — anything to raise the over all quality of life. They also tend to like believe gay people *exist* but also that pronouns are more important than, say, poverty or the environment. So they are also a mixed bag

Contemporary liberalism and conservatism are both just divergent strands of the same Enlightenment Philosophy of individualism, republicanism, freedom, and capitalism. Both fundamentally believe that a capitalist constitutional democracy is the best way to organize the world towards the goal of individual rights. 

“Whether you want to tax the rich or give every fetus gun in the womb, it’s all in the name of freedom, liberty, and a government that protects these ideas under law.”

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

Gauntlet, thrown.

In the ring so far, top contenders: Harvard, California, judges who "disagree."

Um, Pam….honey? It’s not illegal to disagree with policy.

And arresting members of a co-equal branch of the government probably is illegal.

[andallofthemwitches]

Okay, you know what? I must know, because I know many of my LiveJournal friends jumped ship for Facebook and Tumblr and we all have enjoyed Tumblr a lot:

Who here used to be on LiveJournal? Who still has a Dreamwidth account but it's not the same? Who came to Tumblr initially hungry for something that resembled LJ Community but included more visuals?

[andallofthemwitches]

Laser Lemon all the way.

I have it on my walls and it's so energizing. Reminds me of my hippie dippie school's art room and various classroom walls. Laser Lemon is slightly more warm than the electric industrial yellow I remember, though.

you can just feel the self-congratulatory glee of whoever named this paint this color, like they truly thought they were so funny and i think you're so funny paint color naming man good job paint man

[andallofthemwitches]

M.O.D., are you out there?

I can't see your face, but you left a trace

On a data backroad that I almost erased

Not even God takes this long to get back

So get back

'Cause I hit a fork in the road

I lost my way home

Cut off from the main line

Like a disconnected modem

Hello

Tap in the code

I'll reach you below

No one should brave the underworld alone

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

Luciano D’Antonio

[andallofthemwitches]

Iran is becoming a shadow government.

[andallofthemwitches]

[andallofthemwitches]

Topography Study V by Charlotta Maria Hauksdottir

[Merci]

[andallofthemwitches]

I hate palace dramas.

someone makes fun of a thing you think is dumb but like, in an especially cruel way that leaves you uncomfortable with the whole situation