Why I Am A Conservative - by John Hawkins (Townhall.com)

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

I'm only quoting the first three, but take the time to read the whole thing, I encourage you. Afterwards, let us know if you disagree or agree (with some, or any), or add any you feel necessary.

Just for kicks, let's see how we all measure on this man's "conservative scale." Is this a reasonable description of conservative principles, values, and beliefs?

Why I Am A Conservative - John Hawkins (Townhall.com) (http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JohnHawkins/2008/03/14/why_i_am_a_conservative?page=full&comments=true)

Long ago, when I was a mushy headed moderate, I studied conservatism and liberalism to try to figure out what the best philosophy was for my life and for my country. After doing that, I became a conservative because...


* I don't think some politician in Washington who has never held a job outside of politics in his entire life, has a better handle on what to do with my money than I do.

* I don't resent wealthy people. To the contrary, I want to become one of them one day.

* Government policies should be based on whether they work or not and whether they are constitutional, not on whether they make the people advocating them feel "nice" or "mean."

If you want to have a bit of fun, rate your response to each point (0=disagree, 1=somewhat disagree, 2=neither disagree nor agree, 4=somewhat agree, 5=agree), count up your points and see where you rank. Possible points for agreement = 130)

[PrezLeefun]

* I don't get upset that the federal government "doesn't care about me." In fact, I'd be pleased if it forgets that I exist.

^^^^ Not quite. But if it could be like a yearly physical I would be more than happy. We dont need to be chatting on a daily basis but dont forget I am here.

* I am a citizen of the United States, not a citizen of the world. As such, my loyalty will always belong to this country and its people, not to any other nation, group of nations, or any sort of world governing body.

:yeahthat: Absolutely. I dont want to be a citizen of the world. The world sucks. The world has a terrible habit of overwhemling mob mentality. I prefer to think for myself, I like independence.

* I believe women and men are different, should be treated differently, and are not interchangeable. There are jobs women tend to be better at than men and vice-versa. There are ways a man behaves that women shouldn't behave in and vice-versa.

Bingo! Seperate, not Equal. But that's okay, we were never intended to be.

* I believe that citizens of the United States have more to be proud of than the people of other countries and that every one of us should cherish this country and should thank God that we've been given the privilege of being part of such a great nation.

I want to add to that. I am not ashamed of this country's history, even its bad parts. If those things had not happened, I would not be here, and this nation wouldn't be as free and open as it is today.

* People of all races should be treated equally and any laws, whether we're talking about Jim Crow laws or Affirmative Action, that do otherwise are immoral, unconstitutional, and un-American.

Bravo.

* Having a government that is too involved in our lives is far more of a threat than a government that isn’t involved enough.

Agreed. When the government is involved in everything it destroys who we are as individuals and ruins freedom.

* Life begins at the moment of conception and we have an obligation to speak up for the children that are being exterminated via abortion since they can't speak up for themselves.

Absolutely. People who dont get this are either woefully ignorant or willfully ignorant.

* If we lose our freedom in this country, it won't be because of a foreign invader; it'll be because our own government took it away from us a bit at a time with one law after another designed to "help" us.

We are on the brink of this happening. Barack or Hillary will surely kick start this process.

* We have a moral obligation to leave a better America to our children than our parents left to us.
This something I have always heard, people wanting their kids to have a better life than they did. Its 100% American.

[Gato es Verde]

129/130 here.

I occasionally resent wealthy people because I'm not one yet.:smirky:

[Elgalad]

I made it to 126/130 but then I was trying Really hard to be a nonconformist. :evilgrin:

Not easy to disagree with much on that list, though..


-Elgalad

[Nutrider99]

I believe that "Life begins at the moment of conception and we have an obligation to speak up for the children that are being exterminated via abortion since they can't speak up for themselves." However, I don't believe it's any business of the federal government. That is a state issue.

[PrezLeefun]

^^^Why?

[Neil Peart]

^^^Why?Because abortion has no chance of being outlawed if we keep the issue in the hands of the federal government.

[PrezLeefun]

^^^Thanks for you input Neil, but I was kinda hoping Nut would answer me ;)

[Wyatt_Junker]

All these articles lately on people recalling when the light dawned on them, and the sea parted open for them and the dove came down enunciating for them a vision of conservatism.

I don't get it.

I was a con genetically. Genetic con. In preschool my teacher asked me to share with other children. I called her a commie then. I never understood 'share'. Its MINE! I'll share whenever I want to share.

During show-n-tell in first grade, I brought in my plastic AK-47 and mowed down the entire class. I still have it on video. I was gonna send it in to John Stossel so he could show the world what the 70's looked like when people weren't so afraid of their own shadow.

I also slipped on playgrounds and bonked my head. I liked it. I would get up laughing it FELT SO GOOD. More! I want more injury! I would go to junkyards(the ones with the sleeping German Sheperd attached to pole by chain) and climb up on top of small heaps of razor blades and slide down them in flip flops. Why? Because I liked danger! I wasn't going to sue someone if I got a boo boo. That was for pussies.

I liked to play king of the moutain too. KOTM. I loved charging up that hill and knocking off weak kids from the top. If you could blindside them and slam them with your elbow right in the small of their back(hopefully right in the exposed spine) they would make funny sounds. Then they would involuntarily windmill down the side ass over teakettle and collapse in the dirt in a heap of dead weight. Sometimes they would spasm upon passing out. Good times.

We also lived by the train tracks and the smelly hobos would get off the train with their bedrolls and trenchcoats and walk past my house. I called them slime. They understood. They were.

So, I just don't understand these conversion stories. They. Don't. Make. Sense.

[Nutrider99]

^^^Why?
The US Constitution gives the federal government specific rights, and the right to regulate abortion is not among them. Therefore in a federalist system, which is what we have, the authority for anything not given directly to the federal government is the jurisdiction of the state. The states, being closer to the individual desires of the citizens, are more likely to pass laws which reflect the wishes of its constituents. The federal government has no right to usurp such authority.

[PrezLeefun]

^^^ Okay, fair enough.

[MaxLoad]

Thanks for the link. 130/130 here...

*There is a meaningful difference between tolerating behavior and deeming it to be acceptable or good.

* If we lose our freedom in this country, it won't be because of a foreign invader; it'll be because our own government took it away from us a bit at a time with one law after another designed to "help" us.

* We have a moral obligation to leave a better America to our children than our parents left to us.

The last 3 were my personal favs.

[BarkleUSA]

ummm, actually, unless I'm misstaken here, the Preamble to the Constitution includes the phrase "and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity".

Now I'm no Constitutional scholar but I do know that "secure" in this context means to guarentee, enforce, make damn sure of.

I also know that "posterity" refers to offspring, children yet to come, descendants, the next generation and the ones after that.

So although the framing fathers could never have imagined women would want to dismember the arms and legs and crack the skull open of their unborn babies to suction out their brain - they certainly did imagine that the blessings of liberty for our posterity was not a "choice" that one generation could deny to the next, or that one of the two genders could arbitrarily "choose" so they could get promoted at work and buy a new Volvo S80.

The government therefore has a solemn duty to secure posterity (i.e. the blessings of liberty require citizens... unless I'm missing something here)... which is less of a "stretch" then using privacy arguments to justify murder.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

So, I just don't understand these conversion stories.


:thumb:

I came into the world with a loaded gun in one hand and the Declaration of Independence in the other, and they will have to pry them loose with the jaws of life when I leave.

I had a lefty teacher in high school social studies who went on and on about the virtues of Carter and McGovern especially. One day, about two months into the school year, when he was being especially boorish and I wanted to skip to see about a girl, I raised my hand and, once recognized, said that McGovern was a pussy and that Carter was a bloodsucking fag. Exact words. He booted me. The next day I asked him if he were a communist. Once, I asked him why Du Boise was such a tight-assed nigger. That drew an incredulous, spurting stutter from his pansy ass and boos from others, so I immediately followed up with: "You know, Osborne shot the wrong Kennedy. Teddy‘s still chasing skirt."

That got a parent-teacher conference.

After that I played nice . . . sort of . . . but found a way to castigate this or that lefty in each of the monthly essays he required for the course. Lefty of the month! I was especially proud of the way I worked FDR into the separation of powers assignment.

BTW, while I took some heat for that, he tended to keep his personal politics out of his instruction after that too.

[Nutrider99]

ummm, actually, unless I'm misstaken here, the Preamble to the Constitution includes the phrase "and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity".....The government therefore has a solemn duty to secure posterity (i.e. the blessings of liberty require citizens... unless I'm missing something here)... which is less of a "stretch" then using privacy arguments to justify murder.
Pardon me, but I don't believe I gave any justification whatever to murder. Murder, by the way, is NOT a federal offense. If you kill someone, you go to STATE prison. It's only federal if you cross state lines. Since MURDER is a state issue, then ABORTION is a state issue.