What is a true conservative?

What is a true conservative?
By Dwight C Douglas

When I watch television, I hear all the Republicans say they are the “true” conservative. They argue that what America needs in the White House is a conservative. This word has been reshaped by those who claim they alone make sense and know how to improve America.

Dictionary.com says that conservative means disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. But when I hear the candidates talk, they talk about changing things and “taking their country back” as if they are somehow ordained to control its destiny. And as the say, that is why they play the game, or in this case, why we have elections.

Most politicians truly believe in their heart of hearts they are doing righteous public service. They promise they have a vision to make things work better in Washington. Along the way, they discover deep-pockets of beliefs and interests they need to please to get endorsements or contributions.

We enter this election year, we slide further and further away from the “existing condition.” The idea to preserve and limit change seems rather myopic. I love when I hear the neo-cons talk about same sex marriage, choice and values. They misquote the constitution and use their misinformation to deceive the public. They somehow forget that the original document permitted slavery and set up a rich white American male powerbase – women were not allowed to vote. Without amendments, this country would be living in the dark ages of democracy. Someone must have bucked those existing conditions and institutions. Was it zealous liberals, or just smart Americans?

These wild accusations of Obama being the “great divider” and this myth that he doesn’t meet with people to compromise is just plain oxymoronic. Some of the conservative candidates have decided that a person’s religious beliefs should be the basis for different treatment by the TSA. Is this what they mean by taking back “their” country? Are we going to select and divide the citizens into groups we can control?

The true conservative is someone who has already decided what is right and what is wrong. They see things in black and white. They want to lecture me and show me the way to think about issues. A true conservative tells me that the government has gotten too big, without any seeming understanding that the government is an employer. They cut budgets and cheapen our educational efforts and turn thousands of real public servants into unemployed statistics. Do we really want fewer police, firemen and teachers? How is that limiting change?

I may be a liberal-radical Democrat, but I am into restoring traditional institutions. I would like to see more things built in America. I would like to have call centers where I talk to an American, who gets my jokes and understands my frustrations. I believe the US Postal Service needs to be preserved. What’s wrong with a real letter?

We need to understand that the rich are getting richer and the middle-class is being debt-ridden into depression. We need a strong middle-class that gets raises based on their performance. The true conservative says we need to lower debt and lower taxes. That makes no sense. That is like telling Dad, hey, make a smaller paycheck and we’ll spend less money. FACT ALERT: if you make less money you will spend less money. We need more revenue, which means more workers paying taxes. And that includes those 13+ million illegal immigrants not paying taxes now.

We need to do something about our most important “existing condition” – our ever-growing population. According to the Census Bureau, the percentage of foreign-born population has grown from 4.7% in 1970 to 12.9% in 2010 (that’s 40 million people). The country is changing and those who hold onto this notion of limiting change will be left behind. We need to change Washington, we need to change Congress and we need to change the way America handles its taxation of the general public. Again, we need revenue. We need our government to be strong, not small.

I have never met a true conservative who didn’t bother me. I ask myself, why is this? The first thing that puts me off is this aurora of knowing what is right for everyone. The next thing that generally surfaces early in the conversation is this notion that other people are not pulling their fair share. A naiveté that somehow a person working two jobs to get by is less than those who have gotten a “good” education and “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps” to beat the system. And they accuse Obama of class warfare, what?

Another thing that ruffles my feathers is this feeling that non-Christians are not the rightful owners of our country. When these politicians are slightly less true in their conservative views, they might use the phrase “Christian-Judeo nation” as if there are no other value or belief systems than those chosen two. I mean, Hollywood is full of successful people who believe that a spaceship will rescue the righteous; are they not America? And Utah is full of people who wear sacred underwear; are they not part of the great country of freedom of speech and religious belief? There are large neighborhoods in this country where people face a place in the middle-east and pray five times a day; are those citizens not worthy of our respect? There are millions of people in America who don’t want to go back to the witch hunts of Salem, Massachusetts. We like the separation of church and state. It makes sense for America today.

We need to think about the words these people use. We need to comprehend the meanings and actions behind those words. When Rick Santorum said on national TV that Muslims should be handled differently by the TSA when clearing security at our airports, I couldn’t believe the only candidate to demonstrate disbelief was Ron Paul. Rick’s opinion is not a true conservative viewpoint. This would be racial profiling and a racist attitude that would be no different than slavery, female voting restrictions and ruling that only landowners could vote. Those were the original institutions. Would a true conservative in the White House really go back to that existing condition?

We will probably find that true conservatives are just nostalgic fools, who in a sense, are out of touch with America. Professional politicians and true conservatives are keeping us from righting the ship. Even Ronald Reagan raised taxes almost every year he was in office. What would Reagan do today? A true conservative doesn’t acknowledge that good decisions and compromises move things forward. They focus on a rewritten history, the opinion of the pack and their insecure need to appear holier than thou; with the “thou” in this case being the American middle-class.