BEING A CONSERVATIVE

I've been thinking a lot lately about the differences, both actual and perceived, between liberals (or as they are now known, progressives) and conservatives.  Part of what got me thinking was an email from a friend who is very liberal. Her opinions and mine differ on many, many levels but the email had absolutely nothing to do with politics.  It was the FACT of the email that got me thinking about how our political opinions color our beliefs and actions.  Here's the backstory.  She's a wonderful person, a loving mother and someone who truly believes that the answer to America's problems lie within the policies of the Democrat party. She supported Obama and thinks the answer to issues is more government involvement, not less.  She supports gun control, abortion and unlimited immigration.  She thinks homosexuals should have the right to get married.  In other words there probably isn't a single political issue that we agree on.  On the surface you would really think that she is a "live and let live" kind of person, which is the impression most liberals give...on the surface.  But the reality is that she, like most liberals, is actually eager to tell others how to live.  Here's where I'm coming from.  Like I said at the beginning, she's a wonderful person and a loving mother.  Because I've always considered her a great mom I forwarded her a stupid e-mail chain letter about being a great mom.  Now here's the background.  I RARELY forward emails, whenever they have one of those stupid paragraphs about the rewards you get for forwarding the email (you know the ones I mean..."in 15 minutes something great will happen to you") I edit those lines out and remove all references that would identify it as a "chain-letter" and then forward it but even then it's something I hardly ever do.  But in this case I got the email, liked the general sentiment and went ahead and forwarded it en toto to several women I consider to be particularly good mothers.  Of all the women I chose this friend was actually the only liberal in the bunch, I tend to fly with my own flock if you know what I mean. Several of them sent it back to me as instructed in the email, several more ignored it but she, and only she, sent me back a sweetly worded reprimand for forwarding the email in the first place.  Here's what she wrote..."You are a great mother and getting prettier by the day. (the start of the letter) But I don't do chain letters.  Mostly because it seems to annoy more people than please them.  No spirit of fun!  But I do appreciate your thinking of me."  I have to admit that reply really bugged me, and yet as I re-read it I'm not sure why it bothered me so much.  She actually took the time to reply (in other words to let me know she'd gotten it) and yet at the same time to make it clear she didn't want to receive any more.  My own tendency when I get an annoying letter is to just ignore it but she went to the trouble of making her feelings known.  I think I can learn a lot from her.  My initial reaction to her email was to be upset that she didn't just accept it in the spirit in which it was intended but now I think she was probably right to make her feelings about it known in a tactful way.  Thus...the drawn out explanation for this blog, making my feelings known about the issues that matter the most to me as a conservative in the order in which they matter to me.  I'm not saying this is the correct order of importance on these issues.  Merely that this is the order in which I care about them.

BIG GOVERNMENT: I'm putting this first because I think it is the root cause of so many of our problems.  When America had small government it flourished and grew,as the federal government got bigger our growth was stymied.  I believe, as a conservative, that the only proper job of federal government is national security.  The writers of the U.S. Constitution stated that their purpose was to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty".  I think the words "general welfare" are particularly meaningful, it isn't to specifically provide for people, merely to create the environment (one of safety and liberty) that would enable them to provide for their own welfare.  I think that above anything else our elected officials need to support the constitution.  The Constitution was written specifically to limit government, to make sure it didn't get too involved in people's lives.  When a congress or president support or enact policy that specifically goes against what the Constitution says then they are acting in a way that is unconstitutional and treasonous.  Article 1, Section 1. of the Constitution says that ALL legislative powers shall be vested in the Congress of the United States...so obviously when legislation comes from the Supreme Court or the President it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!  Furthermore, the 12th article of the Bill of Rights says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In other words...small government, State government, LOCAL government.  Not national or federal.  LIMIT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!

FREEDOM OF RELIGION: The first article of the Bill of Rights says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble"  when the Federal government enacts laws that require people to provide services that prohibit the exercise of their religion then they are in direct opposition to the Constitution, when the government tries to prohibit peaceful assembly they are in direct opposition to the Constitution. Christians believe that abortion is murder, Christians believe that marriage is "an institution established by God" when you require them to support those things that are in direct opposition to their Christian faith you are prohibiting the free exercise of their religion which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! The solution is to not mandate policy or use Federal funds for social issues.  Any government involvement in those issues should be determined at the local level.

RIGHT TO LIFE: This is way up there on my list of issues because it is an important one to me personally. I believe that those who are strong and able have a responsibility to protect those who are weak and vulnerable and in my opinion the two times of life when people are the most weak and vulnerable are at the beginning and the end of their lives. No one is more vulnerable than a child in the womb and it is my belief that our founding fathers would have found it absolutely inconceivable that the unborn would need our protection. If they could have foreseen that this country would reach a point where more than 46 MILLION babies have been aborted (https://nationaleconomicseditorial.com/2017/04/15/abortion-facts-and-statistics/) I have to think they would have thrown up their hands and said "what's the point of any of this?". Of course that's just my personal opinion. How is it possible that one of the biggest problems in the land of the free and the home of the brave would be that mothers are killing their own children? I could actually write on this particular subject for hours but am going to stop here. Conservatives believe in conservation, conserving our liberty, conserving our Constitution, conserving the lives of our people. It is almost as important to conserve the lives of the elderly as those of the unborn. Efforts to enable people to "die with dignity" have resulted in a culture of death and in my opinion the appropriate name for the Progressive movement is the movement of death. Their goal is to kill those they feel are unworthy of life...does that remind anyone else of another socialist regime?

GUN CONTROL: The second article in the Bill of Rights says "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed".  I think that is pretty straightforward!  We as citizens have a right to own firearms.  It's right there in the constitution. Anything that infringes upon our right to bear arms is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!

IMMIGRATION: I am all for immigration.  My husband's great-grandfather came here from Italy, my ancestors mostly immigrated from the British isles (England, Ireland and Scotland with some  native Americans in there for good measure) but they ALL immigrated here legally.  It is illegal immigration that is a problem and more than that it is the change in attitude on the part of new immigrants that has led to so much frustration with this particular issue.  It used to be that people immigrated to the United States in order to work and build a better life for themselves and their descendants.  They did not arrive here expecting the government to provide for them and that is the biggest problem with today's immigrants. Again, going back to the Constitution the only thing the federal government needs to provide is the environment for someone to provide for themselves.  I'll write more tomorrow because I have to go and I've only scratched the surface on why I'm a conservative..but there it is so far.

Well, in the words of the Garth Brooks song..."If tomorrow never comes..." I wrote this blog so long ago that I no longer even remember when I started it but today seemed like a good day to finish it. On rereading I realized that there is a lot more to say but I think I will do that later. For now I'm going to post and if anyone is interested in my unsolicited ramblings I would love to hear their comments.