"[H]ealth care was one of those areas where even conservatives used to be willing to accept government intervention in the name of compassion, given the clear evidence that covering the uninsured would not, in fact, cost very much money. ... Now, however, compassion is out of fashion—indeed, lack of compassion has become a matter of principle, at least among the GOP's base. And what this means is that modern conservatism is actually a deeply radical movement, one that is hostile to the kind of society we've had for the past three generations—that is, a society that, acting through the government, tries to mitigate some of the 'common hazards of life' through such programs as Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare and Medicaid."—Paul Krugman.
A key part of the Republican Establishment's cultivation of hatred has been the subversion of empathy. Othering is the foundation of hate-based scapegoating, and Othering can only happen in a void of empathy. Compassion is not merely out of fashion; its existence is an impediment to modern conservative politics.
That makes for colossally grim prospects for the survival of a democracy with any semblance of a functional social contract.
Which, of course, is not a bug of modern conservatism but a feature.
