Make My Acquaintance
For those who don’t know me, I am a conservative. Having said that, I feel it’s important to clarify what my positions actually are at this time, and I’ll save discussion of specific issues for future missives. I’ll explain:
Calling oneself a “conservative” in the current political climate is a little bit like identifying oneself as a “metal musician” (which, oddly enough, I also happen to be). In metal, there are so many stratifications and subsets within the genre that have little in common with each other as to render the label of “metal” hopelessly generalized. Iron Maiden’s style has little in common with Slipknot’s, and Crowbar’s music is as dissimilar to Voivod’s as it is to, say, Cradle Of Filth’s… but they are all “metal.” The same goes for American conservatism. So, we will define terms.
First, party affiliation is meaningless. I am NOT a Republican. If anything, my ideology leans more toward a libertarian point of view than anything else, but I never saw any advantage to joining one party or another, and I maintain my independence as a thinker. In addition, I’ve found that voting for a Republican simply because he IS a Republican is no guarantee that he will share my conservative values. Conversely, voting for a Democrat does not necessarily mean that you get a liberal; there are a few notable examples of conservative Democrats in national politics, some of which mirror my ideas more closely than certain Republicans.
Second, I am not a member of the “Religious Right,” so anybody hoping to dismiss my views solely on that basis is going to be disappointed. To put it bluntly, most of those people are space cadets. They are no different in their way than any other religious group that seeks to coerce people to live their lives by their moral code, be they Christian, Muslim, or whatever. Such people ought NEVER to be in a position to set public policy, and the fact that I occasionally find myself on the same side of an issue as they are (albeit for totally different reasons) is frankly nauseating, but I try not to let it get me down. Even broken clocks are right twice a day.
Third, I don’t believe that ANYONE in government is beyond reproach. That goes double for people I actually vote for. No political personality is going to be all things to all people, and those who insist on trying usually find themselves in a world of shit. Again, it all comes down to being true to your ideas.
(Brief aside) Keeping in mind that I find the “Religious Right” to be mostly pretentious, hypocritical bastards of the highest order…I don’t normally quote Scripture, partly because I’m not conventionally religious myself, and partly because I feel like such a fucking sitting duck when I do it. Sometimes, however, I find pearls of wisdom in the Bible that I use every day of my mostly godless life, and I’d like to share one with you here. To paraphrase Psalm 146:3, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, for they will frig thee up, yea, verily unto the ends of the earth.” Actually, it doesn’t say that exactly, but it’s kind of boring the way Shakespeare wrote it. (Back to the article)
What I’m trying to get across with this is that, once a conservative that I voted for stops acting in accordance with what conservatism is all about, after having run for and won the office as a conservative, I look at it as a betrayal of sorts. And, if someone in a position of power abuses that power or breaks the law, regardless of what bolt of cloth they are cut from, I think they should be held accountable. No exceptions.
Fourth, I believe that there is no such thing as a “moderate.” There are varying degrees of liberalism and conservatism, and you may be liberal on some issues and conservative on others, but cut to its base level, you will invariably be one or the other. It’s like trying to roll a bowling ball across a tightrope; it’s going to fall one way or the other. There are also no such things as “progressives,” “neo-cons,” or “centrists.” If you’re a liberal, be a liberal…and be proud. If you’re a conservative, same thing applies. Anything else is just a label that means nothing.
In summary, it’s all about the ideas. Not the people, and not the party. The debate between Left and Right is not so much about elephant versus jackass, this candidate versus that candidate, or red state versus blue state as it is about liberalism versus conservatism.
So, now you know who I am. Soon, you’ll begin to know what I think.
by
Nach dem Fleisch
