NationStates Jolt Archive

Conservative
Charley Reese
4-7-5

I've always been competitive but never ambitious, but were I ambitious, I would feel that I had at last arrived. Some letter writer, basking in the reflected glory of George Bush's re-election, included me in a list of what he called "limousine liberals."

He couldn't be more wrong. I am a blue-collar working guy. Some journalists have pretensions of being professionals, but we are really just a bunch of Joe Lunch Buckets working in an information factory. And I am not a liberal.

His mistake was in his apparent definition of "conservative," which he seems to think is somebody who is in favor of foreign wars and against gay marriage and abortion. That is a definition of conservative straight out of the "How to Dupe the Dumb Masses" manual used by professional campaign managers like Karl Rove.

So, let me explain what a conservative is. A conservative believes that not only should the Supreme Court strictly construe the Constitution, but so should the president, the House, the Senate, governors, mayors and everybody else. A conservative does not approve of wars, except in defense of the land and the people, and only upon a declaration of war by both houses of Congress. A war to liberate somebody else from a nasty government is unconstitutional, illegal and immoral.

To strictly construe the Constitution is to recognize that it is not a "living document" to be amended by interpretation, but rather is a contract between the states and the federal government. To be properly construed, it must be read in the context of the times in which it was written and adopted.

A conservative is against foreign aid. Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress authorized to tax the American people and then hand their money to a foreign government as either a gift or a loan. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to provide welfare, health care, housing or education. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention abortion or gay marriage. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to subsidize either individuals or corporations.

Philosophical and moral issues are to be decided by the legislatures of the states, not by federal courts or even by Congress, whose duties and powers are strictly limited by the Constitution. Whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry or form civil unions and whether abortion should be legal or illegal are both questions to be decided by the state legislatures. No state or federal judge should have a say in the matter, and Congress likewise has no authority to intervene one way or the other.

A conservative Christian believes that his own soul is not imperiled if other people down the street decide to do some sinning. A conservative Christian recognizes that he is commanded to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and comfort the sick and dying. He is not commanded to shift this responsibility to government. He is not commanded to judge other people's lives and to regulate their behavior. A conservative Christian recognizes that something does not have to be illegal in order for him to refrain from doing it.

A conservative believes in the real, traditional values of this country: courage, hard work, self-reliance, frugality, chastity before marriage, faithfulness after marriage, loyalty to family and loyalty to the Constitution. Loyalty to a political party or to a politician is profoundly un-American.

Now, it should be noted that the republic handed to us by our Founding Fathers died with the Confederate States of America. That's what that war was about. Since then, we have had a centralized national government ever increasing its powers, and an imperialistic foreign policy. People in Washington pay lip service, if that, to the Constitution, and people outside of Washington don't seem to care.

As for traditional values, they are little observed. America is a decadent country, especially its cultural elite. One would have to be deaf, blind and living in a monastery not to recognize this. A true conservative has no place in either major party. They are both committed to a centralized government at home and imperialism abroad. One's only choice on Election Day is to try to pick the more competent of two candidates.

So there. I am not a limousine liberal. I am a homeless conservative living in an empire.

First published December 1, 2004

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese-contact.html

I am a Liberal and I say I MISS THE REAL CONSERVATIVES.

For the love of god, you guys had class, you had style, you had honor and intelligence. It was an honor to debate with a conservative about welfare and aid.

For the love of god, get control of your pet party back, PLEASE.

Conservative
Charley Reese
4-7-5

I've always been competitive but never ambitious, but were I ambitious, I would feel that I had at last arrived. Some letter writer, basking in the reflected glory of George Bush's re-election, included me in a list of what he called "limousine liberals."

He couldn't be more wrong. I am a blue-collar working guy. Some journalists have pretensions of being professionals, but we are really just a bunch of Joe Lunch Buckets working in an information factory. And I am not a liberal.

His mistake was in his apparent definition of "conservative," which he seems to think is somebody who is in favor of foreign wars and against gay marriage and abortion. That is a definition of conservative straight out of the "How to Dupe the Dumb Masses" manual used by professional campaign managers like Karl Rove.

So, let me explain what a conservative is. A conservative believes that not only should the Supreme Court strictly construe the Constitution, but so should the president, the House, the Senate, governors, mayors and everybody else. A conservative does not approve of wars, except in defense of the land and the people, and only upon a declaration of war by both houses of Congress. A war to liberate somebody else from a nasty government is unconstitutional, illegal and immoral.

To strictly construe the Constitution is to recognize that it is not a "living document" to be amended by interpretation, but rather is a contract between the states and the federal government. To be properly construed, it must be read in the context of the times in which it was written and adopted.

A conservative is against foreign aid. Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress authorized to tax the American people and then hand their money to a foreign government as either a gift or a loan. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to provide welfare, health care, housing or education. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention abortion or gay marriage. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to subsidize either individuals or corporations.

Philosophical and moral issues are to be decided by the legislatures of the states, not by federal courts or even by Congress, whose duties and powers are strictly limited by the Constitution. Whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry or form civil unions and whether abortion should be legal or illegal are both questions to be decided by the state legislatures. No state or federal judge should have a say in the matter, and Congress likewise has no authority to intervene one way or the other.

A conservative Christian believes that his own soul is not imperiled if other people down the street decide to do some sinning. A conservative Christian recognizes that he is commanded to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and comfort the sick and dying. He is not commanded to shift this responsibility to government. He is not commanded to judge other people's lives and to regulate their behavior. A conservative Christian recognizes that something does not have to be illegal in order for him to refrain from doing it.

A conservative believes in the real, traditional values of this country: courage, hard work, self-reliance, frugality, chastity before marriage, faithfulness after marriage, loyalty to family and loyalty to the Constitution. Loyalty to a political party or to a politician is profoundly un-American.

Now, it should be noted that the republic handed to us by our Founding Fathers died with the Confederate States of America. That's what that war was about. Since then, we have had a centralized national government ever increasing its powers, and an imperialistic foreign policy. People in Washington pay lip service, if that, to the Constitution, and people outside of Washington don't seem to care.

As for traditional values, they are little observed. America is a decadent country, especially its cultural elite. One would have to be deaf, blind and living in a monastery not to recognize this. A true conservative has no place in either major party. They are both committed to a centralized government at home and imperialism abroad. One's only choice on Election Day is to try to pick the more competent of two candidates.

So there. I am not a limousine liberal. I am a homeless conservative living in an empire.

First published December 1, 2004

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese-contact.html

I respect this man's resolve. Unfortunately the conservative party has been hijacked.

I want the moderates back... :(

There's a lot of hijacking going on out there.
The only reason most lefties would say they miss old conservatives is because old conservative lost one election after another and allowed the left control. They miss the cultural dominance, not the ideas of old conservatives.
They want the conservatives to become stodgy minority party complainers again. Vocal but harmless. Its just natural in the political realm to feel this way. It is exactly the same how so many power conservatives now long for the demise of the Democratic party.

I suppose I ought to state my reason for posting this (beside the fact that it's been a little over a year since I've bothered to post anything on these boards) but first let me say that I do not consider myself Conservative or Liberal, Neoconish nor Neolibish, Green or Libertarian, or even Centrist for that matter. To my mind, all of these classifications, like partisan politics, inevitably closes any true discussion or debate by ultimately causing any such discussion to degenerate into spats of what are effectively civil name-calling in which no progress whatsoever can be reached in any real sense and what little is reached inevitably leaves none walking away happy.

That said, I find that many in the debates that tend to occur (or at least the last time I was on) who tended to define themselves as Conservative by no apparent virtue other than belonging to the current Republican party or ideology, thus granting themselves some sort of illusory authority to "slander" those who disagree with them as being "Liberal", "Socialist", etc. whether their earstwhile opponent actual was or not (much as is happening in "real world" political debate these days.)

So, in a minor attempt to clear the air by posting an article in which true Conservative ideology is laid out, I hope to at least set one matter straight for a short period of time.

well at least that's one person's opinion of what being a Conservative is all about... some of which I agreed with, some of which I didn't.

Two problems with all of that:

How exactly can any intelligent person say that the Constitution should only be applied in the context of the times in which it was written? Should we just ignore all of the technological progress and social changes that have been made since then?

I love the Scalia-esque "the federal government cannot determine morality, the courts cannot determine morality, the state legislature can." It's simple idiocy to hand over your own morality to the government at all, no matter what level you are looking at. Those issues which are determined by subjective morality should not enter into government at all.

Modern-Day Conservative:

The largest of the goblinoid races, Modern-Day Conservatives are a brutish humanoid race with sallow or dark skin, thick hides, clawed hands, broad flat faces with pug noses, powerful jaws, fangs and jutting brows. Modern-Day Conservatives have a stooped stance and stand from anywhere between 3' - 7' at the shoulder, their full height if standing straight however would be around 7' 6". Unusually, females are larger than males but this is due more to genetic rather than nutritional factors. The Modern-Day Conservative's build is ape-like with short bowed legs, over-long arms and broad muscular shoulders, which give them great muscular power. They also enjoy tremendous endurance and can function under nearly any conditions.