Posted on 06/13/2002 8:27:39 AM PDT by christine
Why I'm not a conservative
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
I've said it before and I'll say it, again: I am not a conservative.
This comes as a shock to some people. We have come to view politics in America in this paradigm of right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal, Republican vs. Democrat.
I tell you that is no choice at all.
I don't like the label "conservative." I reject the label. With all due respect to my "conservative" friends, I find the description detestable, extremely unflattering, simplistic and an insult.
Let me tell you why.
Conservatives, by definition, seek to conserve something from the past – institutions, cultural mores, values, political beliefs, traditions.
What happens when a society moves so far from righteous values and freedom principles that there is little left to conserve?
That is where I believe America finds itself in the early part of the 21st century. Let me give you some examples of why:
the breakdown of the institutions of marriage and family;
the inability of many to distinguish between right and wrong;
the consolidation of power in Washington and in the executive branch;
the breakdown in the rule of law;
the usurpation of power by unaccountable supra-national agencies;
infringements on personal freedoms
increasing vulnerability to weapons of mass destruction and government's unwillingness or inability to address such a basic concept of defense; What do these and other problems our nation is facing have in common?
Today we have a federal government that acts without regard for the Constitution. What's the conservative prescription for that? Has "compassionate conservative" George W. Bush reversed unconstitutional government or continued it? Can you defeat unconstitutional government by putting your finger in the dike to prevent more?
No, it takes a radical agenda to defeat a radical agenda. Conservatives have no stomach for fighting – the kind of fighting it takes to restore real freedom to America.
It's not a time for timidity or compromise. It's not a time for defensiveness and conciliation. It's time to take the offensive in this struggle.
I'm not a "conservative" because I see precious little left in this world worth conserving. Conservatives, from my experience, do not make good freedom fighters. They seem to think a victory is holding back attacks on liberty or minimizing them. They are forever on the defensive – trying to conserve or preserve an apple that is rotten to the core.
What is the rotten apple? You can see it in the government schools that dumb down American kids. You can see it in the universities that pervert the concepts of knowledge and wisdom. You can see it in the federalization and militarization of law enforcement. You can see it in the proliferation of non-constitutional government. You can see it in the real "trickle-down economics" of confiscatory taxes. You can see it in the unaccountable authorities which give us global treaties. You can see it in the relentless attacks on marriage and the family. You can see it in euthanasia, population control and the phony "right" to abortion on demand. You can see it in the surrender of our national security.
It's all got to go. But how? Politics as usual will never get us there.
Conservatives, it seems to me, only forestall the inevitable slide into tyranny. I don't want to forestall it. I want to prevent it. I want to reverse that slide. I want to restore the dream that was America.
Was George Washington a conservative? No. He was a revolutionary. He is known throughout the world – or was when people appreciated such concepts – as the "father of freedom."
Today, those who stand for freedom, justice, the rule of law, self-government and the moral principles of the Bible are not part of "the establishment." We're the rebels. By the world's standards, we're the renegades.
The founding fathers knew that even the best designed government wouldn't work if the people were not righteous, moral and God-fearing – if they didn't love liberty and cherish it.
To practice self-government again, we must have a people capable of self-government.
It takes courage to stand in the gap, to man the barricades, to say "enough is enough" – and mean it. It takes more than a "conservative" vision to lead the way back to freedom.
Rather than calling myself "conservative," I simply give my positions on the issues at hand: pro-life (by which I mean the law should punish abortion as homicide), against the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments, etc.
Agreed. However, the pulpit and each Christian fulfilling his personal calling is the key to this, not unleashing the government upon the citizenry.
There is a bill board in town that reads:
"The abortion clinics in this town operate with the permission of the churches of Jesus Christ."
People cannot become moral through external pressures, only by internal cleansing and education. You cannot stop gambling by banning it. It must come from the inside out, not by government edict.
Its good to know that I am in good company afterall. All eyes must be on the Constitution or we're screwed.
Alot of conservatives are still stuck in the '60's. They are still defending "law and order" against the radicals and hippies. Someone needs to shake them out of their coma and tell them that the radical, socialist hippies won. They grew up, got a haircut, put on a suit, and began infiltration. They are now in charge of every major institution that conservatives used to take pride in defending. They run education, health care, law enforcement, even the military, which they once hated. Ironicly, they are even drug warriors now. Hell, one of them was even POTUS for 8 years. Yet some of our more "seasoned citizen" conservatives still defend these fallen institutions with blind passion.
The 60's are over. We are the radicals we once fought. It's time to realize this and re-adjust the game plan, folks.
I no longer refer to myself as a conservative when discussing politics because the word has been so bastardized that anything to the right of Teddy the Swimmer Kennedy is considered conservative!
Think I'll just hang my hat on Constitutionalist. If the country were to get back on track of what the Founders gave us, it would be perfect. You see, I disagree with Churchill and others about our Constitution not being perfect but its the best the world's had to date. Our Founders were brilliant--they planned for the future better than any yahoo in the political or academic arena today.....they knew times could change--they included the Constitutional Amendment process to handle this.
I get a kick out of the mentally deficient who bitch that 'the CA process is too hard or its impossible'.....yeah.....right....that's exactly why it is set up the way it is! Changing governing policies should be a hell of a lot more difficult than changing a pair of shorts every morning {or evening}!!
As much as I would hate to see it, if Carter had managed to get Congress to write up a Constitutional Amendment authorizing the federales to jump into education, and it had gone through the process and was accepted, I could live with it--because they followed the Constitution I so love and respect. NOTE: I would still enocurage everyone to homeschool regardless because government is incompetent.
That's the way it appears to me. According to Kevin's theory, the way to get rid of big government is for everyone to try to be just like him, and big government will simply evaporate of it's own accord.
So I guess the word "conservative" really ticks you off, eh? WAHHHHHHH!
This article seems so be founded on the asinine idea that the term "conservative" refers to people who support (or at least are weak in the face of):
the breakdown of the institutions of marriage and family;
the inability of many to distinguish between right and wrong;
the consolidation of power in Washington and in the executive branch;
the breakdown in the rule of law;
the usurpation of power by unaccountable supra-national agencies;
infringements on personal freedoms
That doesn't sound like the conservatives I know. We are not "for" unconstitutional government and tyranny, we are for fighting it.
>>I'm not a "conservative" because I see precious little left in this world worth conserving.<<
Well, why don't you dig a hole, jump in, and pull the hole in after you? I do see things worth conserving and preserving. The Constitution, Liberty, Freedom, Rule of Law and Self-Government.
This article seems to be a blistering rant against the word "conservative." To what end? Okay, bid deal, you don't like the word "conservative." You're a "revolutionary". Or you're "Big Bird." Sheesh, lay off the term willya? Big deal.
My suggestion: quit aiming your cannon at a label, which is all it is.
I would say "constitutional revolutionaries".
I think "constitutional reactionaries" would be more appropriate.
We've already lost that battle to the disciples and heirs of Gramsci and the cultural marxists that now dominate ALL of our major institutions.
And that is why we're headed for another American Civil War.
Thank you for writing this, it sums up my take quite well. I have had it with folks bleating, "Well, when we're in a time of war, blah, blah, blah ..." as some kind of justification for stuff going on and I'm a bit confused. Has Congress passed that Declaration of War yet? Or did I miss them voting an open-ended extension of time to the War Powers Act, whereby the president can get to do what he wants as long as he wants, no Congressional control whatsoever??
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