Saturday, November 6, 2010

Conservative Misconceptions

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions over the differences between Conservative and Republican. They are not the same thing.  Republicans can be Conservative or not.  Democrats can be Conservative or not.  Conservatives can be pro choice or not. Conservatives can be for gun control, or not.  Conservatives can be for or against gay marriage.  These are social issues and much debate can and will be had about them. So then, what IS “Conservative?”

Conservative means wanting smaller less intrusive government:  keep more of the money YOU earn; maximum freedom over your personal behavior. 

Conservative means you take personal responsibility for your life so that you can pursue happiness as you see it. Just harm no one in your path. Therefore a person does not need to be legislated into wearing a motorcycle helmet or seatbelt. Conservative means that the government is removed from the role as parental figure  Conservatives believe that individuals are capable of assessing risks and making decisions based on what they know, all the while taking responsibility for the outcomes of those decisions. Government leaves you alone to be a free thinker and to freely live!

Conservative means you understand that private sector businesses runs things more efficiently because they are accountable to shareholders and agencies run by the government are wasteful and inefficient because they are accountable to no one. After all, they can just steal more of your earnings to pay up for their shortcomings. Therefore, charity (read "entitlements) should be privately run and based on true need. We can take care of the less fortunate without government intervention.  It means less government (agencies, regulatory bodies), tax-payer funded jobs because if everyone worked for the government then no one is left steal/suck money from to pay for itself.  This would devalue the dollar further because the entire economy would be fabricated

Continuing along that path, conservative means allowing the entrepreneurial spirit to thrive, making it easier to start and maintain a business.  It means keeping rules and regulations realistic and minimal. Free enterprise is a key to success. It means there is an understanding that private business enterprises are necessary to fund the government and grow the economy and prosperity of both individuals and the country. Businesses are free to operate at maximum efficiency to produce maximum return on investment dollars.  Profits turn into more jobs and more prosperity for all involved.  It is a self perpetuating win-win scenario.  The desire to run efficiently and turn a profit is the fuel that fires innovation.  Finding new creative, sometimes more highly technological ways to do things is the outcome.

Conservative means welcoming peoples from all over the world to come here and live and seek the American Dream.  It means maintaining and securing our borders. It means upholding standards and making persons accountable for the nature by which they got here.  So if someone is here illegally, they must go back to whatever country they came from and start over to do it the right way.  It is unfortunate that other countries are so undesirable that their citizenry feel the need to escape.  America is here, come to us legally. It is not immoral for us to ask immigrants to follow the rules. In fact it is morally necessary in order to protect our current citizens and the very fabric of the country.  When immigrants come, they must realize that they are leaving their former country behind and need to assimilate, learn the language accept our culture.  If this is not so, then America, as the last bastion of freedom on the globe will cease to exist and the there will be nowhere to run!

The Tea (taxed enough already) Party movement is a Conservative one, not a Republican one.  It is an organization that flushes out true Conservative candidates from all parties and holds them up into the light so that we can vote for them.  That’s it. 

America is NOT a democracy.  Democracies do not work. They fail miserably.  We are representative republic and it is the only system that exists or has ever existed which allows for true freedom.  I will fight to get the Republic back to where individuals can live freely once again. I would die for the sake of this great Republic, this grand experiment in freedom.  I will not take it for granted. [Disambiguation from original post. America is not a direct democracy where "majority rule" is in play.  We are a representative democracy where the power still lies with the people, but where there are safeguards in place to protect minorities from prospective tyrannies of the majority.]

For the record:
  • I am pro choice.  It is not the government’s, religion’s or anyone else’s business what a woman decides about whether or not to carry a pregnancy.  It is the most intimately personal decision a woman can make.  Let’s leave her alone with her thoughts, partner, conscience, God if she has one, and doctor to choose what is best for herself.

  • I am pro 2nd Amendment.  I believe in the right to keep and bear arms.  Gun control does not and will never work.  It keeps the guns in the hands of the criminals who don’t care about such laws and takes them away of citizens who abide by laws.  The bad guys will ALWAYS have guns.  Think about this: If there were 10 gun-related crimes in each state on any given day, that is 500 criminals breaking the law with a gun in hand.  On that same day, there were over 400,000,000 guns held by law abiding American citizens that did no harm. So what’s the problem?

  • I am for marriage equality for all. Please refer to my previous entry for a more comprehensive look at my stance on this matter.

  • I am against helmet and adult seatbelt laws and all similar laws that attempt to protect me from myself. I can assess my own risks, make my own decisions and deal with the consequences of same.

  • I am for profiling.  If we have information about what terrorists look like, we should use it.

  • I am against being treated like a criminal when I have committed no crime. Being searched to enter an amusement park or concert is an invasion of my privacy.  Being searched, having my body scanned and/or patted down is an invasion of my privacy and is humiliating and demoralizing. Being video taped at a store, parking lot or traffic stop is wrong and invasive.  I stand with Benjamin Franklin on this one, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania (1759)

  • I am an atheist.  There is absolutely no proof of the existence of any G-d.  When there is, then I will revisit this issue.  Until then, I will support to the death the right for all individuals to believe as they so choose. (I will also go to church when I wish because I DO believe in the goodness of people and in the power of love.  I still love the community that is my church.  I simply no longer hold the same beliefs.)

Being Conservative is neither immoral nor amoral. My political and social beliefs and ideals align most closely with the Libertarian Party. The more I learn about history and the historical, social and economic impact of more Liberal, Socialist and Communist policies, the more firmly I stand in my own convictions.  I am a proud, enlightened, knowledgeable, moral Conservative.