When you think about it carefully, what really stands out with the Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head controversies is the distance between the supposed disease and any plausible remedy. Both cases involve purely private behavior; neither the government nor any tech company played any role. What would the right have the American public do about this? How can the Seuss estate be compelled to continue to publish the books in question? How can the manufacturers of Mr. Potato Head be required to return to the company’s rightful name?
As far as I can see, there are only two possible answers to these questions:
- The CPAC crowd wants to gain a monopoly of power in order to restructure our political, economic, and legal systems. This would include a substantial rewriting of the First Amendment to serve only conservative interests; or
- “Conservatives” (actually, Reactionaries) live in an echo chamber, and love to hear loud applause from the base. This is about preening and blowing off steam–nothing more.
No one within the right has shown anything like the intellectual ability to create a road map for #1. Don’t give them too much credit. The correct answer is #2.