Conservatism. One Woman's Thoughts

What is a conservative? Are we those terrible haters that the liberals talk about? Are we the ones that stifle all progress in the United States and cause untold misery for the masses? I suppose the answer to all of the above is yes, and it is also no. I have read many articles about the differences between conservatives and liberals and in each of them I have been unable to find myself. I can't recognize these people that they call conservatives. I can't recognize Christians by their descriptions either.

Because I don't know all Christians or all conservatives it is difficult for me to assume what their motives or thoughts are. What I can do is tell about the particular type of Christianity and conservatism that I live. I am tired of being called greedy and bigoted, I am tired of being taxed at exorbitant rates and I am tired of the liberal assumption that all Conservatives stifle progress.

It gets old to be told that you are simple or dim, or even more rudely stated, ignorant, because you fail to agree with those doing the name calling.As an American I fail to understand why anyone would attack another for their beliefs or way of living their life. Aren't our three most basic beliefs the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? What will it take for people to respect the right of others to live their lives as they choose?

As a business woman I believe very strongly in the free market. I have learned from experience that if I want to be successful I need to sell a quality product at a fair price. This, and nothing else is what makes a business successful. I abhor the interference of government in my dealings because I am certain that simply getting elected doesn't make any politician an expert in my field. What it does, is allows the politician to make judgements about something that he knows nothing about. It allows government to place silly and unwarranted restrictions that often affect the well being of my employees. Ater hurricane Katrina, we saw the efficiency that bureaucracy was capable of. We watched as millions of dollars were spent on the "administration" of the funding while the actual victims did without. Government bureaucrats made lots of money during Katrina, patted themselves on the back, got lots of press time, and walked away with New Orleans still in ruins. No, this conservative doesn't want the government to run business. I want them to allow businesses to succeed and flourish and lift their employees with them. I want the government to realize that we are not all mental deficients. Some of us know what we want and we know how we want to get it. We work, we save, and we invest. We produce products that people want and in doing that we enrich them as well as ourselves. Many of us like and respect those that work for us. We provide generous benefits and profit sharing because we know that our employees are the key to our success. We work together in a spirit of mutual respect and admiration, and believe it or not, we do it because we choose to. It's called freedom.

As a Christian, I believe that it is my job to help my fellow man when it is possible and not to interfere when it isn't. I can't remember ever forcing anyone into my car to go to church with me. I don't go door to door handing out religious tracts, as a matter of fact ,I don't even have any. I like to talk about God, but I talk to people that ask and no-one else. Many times on AC, I have read the assertions that we "try to force our religion" on others, and maybe some do, but isn't that human nature? Don't people try to share those things that they think are good with others? If you don't want to listen to them, tell them, but don't turn around and expouse your views to them. It isn't fair or right.

There are many that would blame the proposition 8 fiasco on Christians. Perhaps they are right. Maybe I can explain. Historically, marriage has been the union of one man and one woman. That is the definition that we have all grown up with, and that is what we believe. I can't speak for others but I fail to see how changing the definition of a word is going to make any difference to the rights in a committed gay relationship. In my mind it would be much like changing the definition of dog to cat.. or as Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland said "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.. neither more nor less" Sure, you can change the definition, but be ready to change every single definition that doesn't meet the needs of any group demanding it. It isn't the relationship and it isn't the legal rights that are at issue...its a word and that word has strong historical meaning for millions of Americans. Knocking down old ladies and spitting on them isn't going to change their minds. Disrupting church services won't affect them either. Riot if you want, the issue was put to vote and the people voted.

We talk about social programs and our new president has promised many. In my experience most people dependant on the government for subsistence live very meagerly. I have watched as people wait for years for the government to make them "equal". But the government has never been able to accomplish that and never will.As unfortunate as it is we have a history of politicians exploiting the poor by promising handouts. They encourage their dependancy in order to maintain their support. And so the politicians with all of the promises get re-elected time and again, but we have seen no reduction in poverty numbers. Human nature dictates that if all of those in poverty were lifted by some miraculous government program, they wouldn't need the help of that particular politician anymore. That wouldn't work guys... they need your vote and in order to get it they need for you to need them. I want poor people to be helped. I want for them to have educational, health and other oppportunities. I give regularly to community programs to achieve this end, but my goal is to make them independant and strong and successful. I don't need their vote, I am not running for anything. In my mind, human concern and caring is much more helpful than quid pro quo dependancy.

There is much talk about the appointment of new Supreme Court judges. I want judges that will judge based on the constitution and not how they feel. Feelings are nice, but all of us have them and all of us are different. How does a judge that judges by feeling rather than law justify his positions to those that don't "feel" as he or she does? Does becoming a judge make him/her the supreme authority on what is right or wrong? In my mind that would give any judge the right to legislate his own morals... and isn't that what the liberals rail against so fiercely? That is my reason for wanting judges that judge strictly on the basis of the constitution.

In the end, I want to deal with the assertion that all conservatives are dim, uninformed or ignorant. I am sure that many of us are, but we don't have a monopoly on that. How many times have we seen people that will look for the smallest most insignificant things to attack others about? How many articles did we read about crazy things like Sarah Palin's wardrobe or Joe the plumber's occupational licenses? As a conservative, I fail to realize how any of that was relevant to the Presidential race. We were told again and again about how dumb Sarah Palin was and we heard this from people who I assume failed to realize that the woman managed to get elected to a governorship, ran a successful business and did many other things that they themselves had not been able to accomplish. She may not have been a Rhodes Scholar, but her history proves that she is a very effective executive and administrator. Isn't that what we were electing? People related to her, because she lived a similar life to many of them, much the same as many blacks related to Obama because they shared a common thread, as many college students related to Obama for his youth and idealism. If it wasn't a crime for Obama, it shouldn't be for Palin either. If we want a fairer America we all have to work together to make that happen. We need to realize that no matter what they tell us, a politician is not a savior, but a successful job applicant. Hopefully, they will do the job that we have hired them for.We are the bosses, all of us, and if we are prudent, we can keep it that way.