This is a portion of a Facebook rant that I wanted to save because it does a good job of summing up my views on conservatism

Conservatives have done a brilliant job convincing people that their woes are not caused by corporate policy but by government interference, and that the only way to stop said interference is to deregulate, thus giving more power to business. Which they use to make worker's lives worse and blame it on the government, thus perpetuating the feedback loop. The other stroke of brilliance is having convinced people to redirect their mounting frustrations not only at the government but at the poor. I have many times heard my otherwise intelligent neighbors sarcastically spout "I'm glad my taxes could pay for their welfare" It doesn't matter what tiny percentage of their taxes go to welfare, or what even smaller percentage of that goes to people abusing the system. The very idea that they are paying for someone to sit back and drink cheap beer when they have to bust their ass for the same infuriates them. Meanwhile the rich get richer and continue to distract people from the men behind the curtain.