Are today's republicans also conservatives? Absolutely not.
I think its high time we define what it means to be a conservative and realize that calling yourself a republican is not, by ANY means, a conservative identification.
No congress, with the exception of the current democratic house, has blown through more money than the previous republican house. Heck, that's the reason why we have president-elect Barack Hussein Obama. America was sick and tired of republican spending. Especially since that spending favored the wealthy.
Obama said "change" and the people were game. It didn't necessarily matter what the nature of these changes were. Even if those changes included socialism. People wanted to punish President George W. Bush and the republican party he affiliates himself with to suffer for their wrongs. Truly, no man has hurt the cause of conservatism more than President Bush and, no party more than republicans .
Before we discuss the distinction between being a conservative and being a republican we should first define conservatism. Before you respond, please refrain from bringing a pocket knife to a gun show by quoting Webster. Most poly-sci books define conservatism using the phrase "maintenance of the status-quo." Democrats and modern liberals will take this and say "Yea! And our current 'status' is pathetic!". They are right. Our status is pathetic.
But is that really a conservative? Someone who just wants to keep things as they are? You ask a republican and he or she will tell you that conservatism is an attempt to protect "traditional American values." When you hear a republican utter this phrase from what seems to be right out of "Little House on the Prairie" please note: that person is probably not a conservative.
At this point, the "traditional American values" crowd starts to argue why religion should be in our government workings (schools, etc.). At this point do me a favor...slap them in the kidney and SCREAM "you are NOT a conservative!". To my friends who think religion SHOULD be in the classroom and in the legislature let me ask you a simple question: what if a different religion becomes the majority? Say, Islam. Fast forward 10 years and you women would be being fitted for a burka right about now. I love Christ just as much as the next guy but I, however, don't think He needs a government permission slip to make his presence known.
Ok so if conservatism has nothing to do with religious "traditional" values then what is it? One word: (the) Constitution. A true conservative is not trying to preserve religious values or whatever it was that was going through the minds of the pilgrims but rather The Constitution of the United States and, especially, it's Bill of Rights. To be a true conservative means to advocate the preservation of Constitutional law and principles. I keep a pocket Constitution in my pocket (to be redundant) and read it regularly (if you wish to be equally patriotic /dorky visit The Heritage Foundation for a free copy). Helen Keller could read the thing and tell you what responsibility it assigns to the government. The government's ONLY responsibility is to protect and conserve an individual's right to "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (sub. pursuit of happiness for "property" per the Declaration)." That's it. Case closed. That's ALL the thing allows the government to do to and on behalf of the individual. It is the INDIVIDUAL’S responsibility to create a life for him or herself.
Look at how far we have fallen from these principles today. Where once we were free to speak as we saw fit, we now have censors that are to do the parenting for us and a department of education that tells us how our kids are to be educated. Where once we were able to keep the money we earned for ourselves and for our families, we now have a confiscatory tax structure. Where once we were able to keep and maintain our land, we now have eminent domain. Folks, the list goes on.
Who's to blame? Democrats and modern liberals are naturally responsible for the confiscation of property through the application of redistributive and Marxian principles to our bank accounts.
Punish those who allocated their rights efficiently by taking money from them and giving it to those who did not. They make us overachieving bastards feel guilty by calling their beneficiaries "the less fortunate" as if the slightest success was the result of "good fortune." Through this semantical word play, they tell the successful individual that his or her success is only the result of luck; that the dice-playing gods bestowed success upon us. How insulting.
I'd like to pause and say something to the democrats and modern liberals directly: you have absolutely NO business in my wallet. None. Nadda. Zip.
Now you, republicans. Stop calling yourselves conservatives! Sure the democrats brought the money in but you are JUST as guilty with the way you spent it. Once you regained control in congress you had a golden opportunity: return the taxpayer's money to....who is that? THE TAXPAYERS. But you squandered that opportunity, didn't you? You filled the legislature with just as much pork as the democrats...if not more! Oh...and No Child Left Behind? Nice one there pubs. Threw money at a horrible Department of Education. That's like trying to fix a deadbeat rich kid who grew up with no lessons in responsibility by giving him money!
Still more republican violations...you feel like it's important that you control what's on someone else's TV. You feel like censoring someone else's kid's entertainment will make your kid behave and decrease the possibility of a backseat romp. How dare you think you have the right to do the parenting for someone else. You also, for some reason I can't figure out, take issue with what two consenting adults do in the privacy of a bedroom. Here is where the "traditional American values" usually comes up among the republican crowd who try to describe themselves as conservatives. Give me a break.
There are so many more republican and democratic violations of The Constitution. I could literally fill a whole book on these crimes.
Look...Republicans, I understand you feel that you have the right to intrude on someone else's liberty and pursuit of happiness. Democrats, I understand (ok not really but for the sake of argument) you feel you have the right to steal from and violate the rights one person and give it to another. However, I do have something to say to each of you:
Dems: You know how I feel. I don't like you. You feel you have the right to reach into other people's bank accounts and give what you find to someone else. If an individual did what you are doing as a democrat driven congress, he or she would be arrested and prosecuted for felony fraud. If I rob a bank and take all the money to the poor house I am still guilty of theft. I took it from someone who earned it.
Republicans: I used to be among you. That is, before I read the Constitution. You feel like you have the right to control a family's and individual's very lives. You use "traditional American values" as a catchphrase allowing you to pontificate the intrusion of government into the lives of Americans; subsequently violating each of our rights. You (rightfully) persecute the democrats for illegally confiscating money from the pocketbooks of the Americans who earn it yet spend that very money like a redneck at a yard sale. Most importantly, STOP CALLING YOURSELVES CONSERVATIVES!!
So to you both...do me a favor and make up your mind. Either:
a) Recognize the individual's unquestionable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Only support candidates who uphold the Constitution and advocate that the individual has the right to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants; as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
b) Refrain from celebrating freedom on July 4th. It makes me sick. You people want true freedom about as much as cancer and you frankly belong in a dictatorship.
If you are still a dem or "traditional" republican....I hope NOT to see you on the 4th or the polls, for that matter. Oops too late.
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