The Domesticated Primate

I've often pondered the conservatives' fealty to power - I'm talking generalities here, of course. I've noticed this in so many conservatives - they really do seem to recoil in horror when someone attacks someone in power - the extreme case is POTUS, but it seems to even go down to the manager, executives, CEOs, etc.

And I've just never understood that. I might have bought into a lot of big-L Libertarian stuff, but I've never understood Republicans and why so many of them respect authority, even if it's the most arbitrary and incompetent sort. They'll bitch about "big government" and then look shocked when you tell them that, say, the POTUS is a retard man child who couldn't find it with two hands and a flashlight.

Anyway, how to describe this and try to explore why I think they might act this way has been rolling around my head ever since I started this blog, and I never found any satisfactory way to discuss it. I saw this entry over on dailykos.com that may highlight exactly why conservatives respect authority so much, and it does a much better job than I could ever do. Take this, for example (emphasis mine):

And this is why certain men LOVE the game of absolute power. They have no power, but by portraying it as a fight of good against evil for control of the planet and by putting fish and ribbon shaped stickers on their cars, they can convince themselves that they do, in fact, have the power they lack. To be anti-authoritarian and to try to change the game signals that you are a wimp who doesn't think we can win the game and so wants to pander to the other side instead of giving them what they deserve. It isn't a move of maturity in their eyes, but one of weakness and weakness is the ultimate sin.