Here's the money shot. "Social conservatism" is a euphamism for Christianity. The only thing required to be a Christian is freedom of religion, which we still possess. There is no other government intervention required.
Exactly my point.
Politicians shouldn’t even really be about the social issues aside from right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (throw property in there too).
So, abortion matters more than, say, gay marriage.
The problem is that the conservative movement has (until perhaps this past year) changed from basically fiscally sane Goldwaterism/Reaganism, to being a staunch social conservative who would just as soon spend or tax as much as any democrat...as long as they took the right position on abortion, gays, and guns, and the religious right ate it up and called it conservatism.
Just let me live my life according to socially conservative values and leave me, and my wallet (and right to bear arms) the hell alone! That’s all I ask.