The answer may surprise you.
The landscape of conservatives is exceedingly broad. In fact, there is no such person as a conservative. It's a political philosophy that has many facets. We'll discuss three.
First, the single-issue conservatives. Second, a militant branch that differs sharply with other conservatives. And third, the conservatives who are more liberal than liberals.
Let's look at the single-issue conservatives. They are usually focused on abortion or same-sex marriage. They will support the candidate with the strongest pro-life or anti-unisex marriage plank. But there's a problem with this.
A core principle of conservatives is limited government. However, single-issue conservatives look to the government to force their views on others. But that's a contradictory position. On the one hand, they want limited government; but, on the other hand, they advocate for expanded governmental powers to legislate and enforce their values on opponents.
Nevertheless, there is an answer for single-issue conservatives. But more on that later.
Liberals like to stick pins in this group of conservatives. We'll call them the super-patriots. The my-country-right-or-wrong crowd. These flag-wavers see the military as the muscleman for America's hegemony. The super-patriots want a military that is overwhelmingly superior to any potential threat coupled with an ever-growing arms budget to back it up. Many conservatives find these views objectionable.
Here's the problem with the ultra-nationals.
The military budget for the US is $650 billion. The two nations that pose the greatest threat to the US's world dominance are China and Russia. Their budgets are respectively $225 billion and $100 billion. Combined they equal less than one-half of the US's military expenditures. That's not enough for the jingoists. Many conservatives would like to puncture this ballooned budget and rein in military spending.
Also, like the single-issue people, these conservatives see a powerful central government as the answer to their objective. However, big government, as we shall see, is not compatible with political conservatism.
Now we come to the third group of conservatives, the ones who are more liberal than the liberals. Despite the similarities, the differences between true conservatism and liberalism are many.
The hallmark of conservatives is that they are pragmatists. It's whatever works that counts, not what conforms to a conservative or liberal ideology.
Unlike conservatives, liberals are ideologues. Whether or not their policies work is of no concern to the left. Social engineering is the objective. For example . . .
The latest venture for Obama and his wife, Michelle, is an all-female submarine crew. It's a hair-brained undertaking that has nothing to do with national defense but everything to do with furthering the social ideology of equality.
Another difference is that conservatives, for the most part, believe in God. They believe that the US has prospered because we are---or were---a Christian nation with Christian mores of morality, faith, and tolerance.
Liberals, for their part, have declared war on Christmas, Christianity, and the Bible. Their impact on society has been profound.
Customs that were observed since this nation was founded were discovered to be unconstitutional by the liberals in the Supreme Court. Nativity scenes are now verboten. Merry Christmas has changed to happy holidays (it's coupled with New Year's Eve). Christianity branded as intolerant and divisive. Public schools dechristianized. The Bible degraded to a medley of myths. Monuments to the Ten Commandments hauled away.
A commonly held conservative principle is the Jeffersonian axiom that the government that governs least is the government that governs best. But for liberals the solution to every problem is a government program or a court order.
All the transitional changes in society during the last 60 years were not brought about through the ballot box but through the courtroom.
If the Supreme Court had been faithful to its constitutional responsibilities of keeping the actions of the president and the laws of the Congress within the confines of the Constitution, we would be a freer and less contentious society.
The answer to the problems that so vex society today is to let the state governments and the people who elect those governments grapple with societal problems.
Pro-life, abortion, same-sex marriage, common core, traditional customs, marijuana, settlement of Syrian immigrants, racial integration, all so-called “civil rights” legislation, diminution of property rights, and so many other seemingly unsolvable dilemmas, should have been left for the people to decide, not to the courts.
Summing up, we see that it is the conservatives, the true conservatives, who are the champions of freedom and self-determination. It is they who stand for the greatest amount of freedom for the greatest number of people.
And it is the liberals who knock on the doors of the courts, welcome presidential executive orders, and lobby Congress for legislation to force their brand of morality on others.
Sincerely,
Bob Scroggins
New Milford, PA