I Am Conservative

Conservative roots: I was born and raised in a conservative family. The conservative values I was taught, and live by, are the foundation of my conservative ideology.

The neoliberalism and soulless libertarianism passed off as contemporary conservatism is an insult to my conservative heritage and to the very soul of my nation. But, instead of lambasting those vile and immoral false beliefs, I will focus on my conservatism.

Moral values are at the heart of my conservatism. These include honesty, integrity, frugality, hard-work, study, respect for others, compassion, civility, love, fairness, community, honor, courage, modesty, moderation, dependability, gratitude, reason, generosity, stewardship and restraint. Morality and ethics are not situational but life situations can sometimes present moral dilemmas.

I believe all morality is social. It is not morally relevant how I treat myself. It is only morally relevant how I treat others. Of course, my personal behavior, in most cases does affect others. I might selfishly believe drinking, eating too much, not exercising, gambling, or smoking harms only me, but that is not true. There are people who care about me and depend on me. My behavior has an indirect effect on all of society.

The severity of the recent COVID-19 epidemic could have been greatly mitigated if people would have acted in morally responsible ways. If people had embraced vaccinations, masking, and limiting social interaction, our economy would have done better and hundreds of thousands of lives saved.

Thus, I have a social moral responsibility to be personally moral.  I do not accept any ideology that excuses either social or personal immorality as being ‘conservative.’

My conservatism is a political ideology based on my moral values and my Country’s founding principles. It begins with the rule that I will not harm anyone or through my inaction allow anyone to come to harm. I believe that “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” and rights we wish to ensure. Any action on my part infringes on these rights causes harm and is immoral. If by inaction I allow someone to come to harm I have been immoral. I recognize my frailty and understand I cannot prevent all harm, but it would be immoral for me to abdicate responsibility.

Wedge immorality: Anyone who does not accept the moral responsibility to protect life, liberty, and opportunity for all people cannot claim my ideal of conservatism.  Conservatism has nothing to do with limited government, bigotry, lower-taxes, abortion, guns, etc. Those are “wedge issues” designed to trick people into voting away their rights. Such issues are immoral because they cause great harm.

I am Conservative: If you accuse me of not being conservative, then I can only assume you practice some alternate privileged form of conservatism.