It is not the government’s job to invent support structures for families or individuals. If a person or family has no support structure, it’s THEIR job to find one, invent one or do without. Regarding the responsibility of the community, it is the job of PRIVATE organizations and groups to provide support for needy people.I'm not advocating government interference. I'm advocating conservatism have a clearer more positive agenda. It's perfectly fine to know what you don't like, but at the same time you have to know what you *like*. Too much of modern conservative is focused on opposition and too little on coming up with a concrete vision for what an ideal society looks like and how to attain it.PRIVATE - NOT government. Churches, synagogues, other faith based groups, private charities - the more local the better - are who should be helping those who need help. And neighbors!
As soon as the government steps in, hell breaks loose. And it has.
I think one of aspects of conservatism that seems to escape you is that it is up to individuals to decide what is “ideal” and then their individual responsibility to make it happen, personally.
Remember the “pursuit” of happiness. As long as there is life and liberty, the pursuit of happiness is each person’s kuleana. (responsibility, area etc).
I do not want any “manifesto” whether socialist, communist, fascist, utopian, Fabian or so-called “conservative”, telling me what ideal is.
Social structure founded on strong (aka “natural”) families, with the eternal spiritual values that are universal (note my Thos. Jefferson quote) is what is needed, along with government doing what it is Constitutionally mandated, and NOT A SPECK MORE.
No new manifestos needed or wanted.
We have a clear positive agenda. It's pro marriage, pro-life, pro-God, pro-natural two parent heterosexual parent family.
It's perfectly fine to know what you don't like, but at the same time you have to know what you *like*.
We do know what we like and we've been telling you that and you haven't been listening.
Too much of modern conservative is focused on opposition and too little on coming up with a concrete vision for what an ideal society looks like and how to attain it.
Wrong again. Conservatives are fighting the good fight in maintaining traditional family values that have been shown to work for thousands of years.
This new values stuff you're pushing is what's not going to work and it won't be until it fails miserably and lives are ruined that you will figure it out. It's not an option for some social experiment to see what we can come up with for *new* conservatism. It will take decades to determine if it works and if it doesn't you've just screwed up millions of lives.
We need to get back to what worked for our grandparents and back beyond.
“Too much of modern conservative is focused on opposition”
The problem is that there is so much we *must* oppose. If we don’t oppose evil,we have ourselves to blame when it wins. The reality of pro *and* con won’t go away. We must stand for what’s right and oppose what’s wrong.
People react to incentives. If people are told that the only ways they will be cared for in their old age are if they (1) raise children in whom they instill sufficient respect that they will provide care when the time comes, or (2) bank enough money to provide for one's own needs, or (3) make themselves sufficiently likable that someone else will support them, then a lot of people will do one of those things, especially if they're allowed to keep enough of their own income to do so.
Unfortunately, many government "safety net" programs have the effect of eliminating people's need to accomplish any of the above. Consequently, people do them less and less.
Certainly a transition back to the proper way of doing things will be unpleasant, but that is the nature of life. Unpleasantness is sometimes natural and unavoidable, and efforts to unnaturally avoid it will ultimately make things worse.