Why I Am A Conservative
By John Hawkins
There seems to be some confusion on this blog about what conservatism is, and here’s another individual’s version. BTW, as individualists, conservatives then to be…individuals.
Long ago, when I was a mushy headed moderate, I studied conservatism and liberalism to try to figure out what the best philosophy was for my life and for my country. After doing that, I became a conservative because…
* I don’t think some politician in Washington who has never held a job outside of politics in his entire life, has a better handle on what to do with my money than I do.
* I don’t resent wealthy people. To the contrary, I want to become one of them one day.
* Government policies should be based on whether they work or not and whether they are constitutional, not on whether they make the people advocating them feel “nice” or “mean.”
* “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” In other words, I’m not a victim, you’re not a victim, and 99 times out of a hundred, the person on TV screaming about how he’s a victim, isn’t a victim either. If you’re not happy with your life, it’s your responsibility to fix it, not the government’s responsibility.
* I don’t get upset that the federal government “doesn’t care about me.” In fact, I’d be pleased if it forgets that I exist.
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* I am a citizen of the United States, not a citizen of the world. As such, my loyalty will always belong to this country and its people, not to any other nation, group of nations, or any sort of world governing body.
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* There are no fantastic new programs left for the federal government to implement.
* It isn’t the job of the federal government to make us successful; it’s the job of the federal government to create an environment that allows us to make ourselves successful.
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* The market and private industry almost always do a better job of allocating resources than the federal government could ever hope to do.
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* People of all races should be treated equally and any laws, whether we’re talking about Jim Crow laws or Affirmative Action, that do otherwise are immoral, unconstitutional, and un-American.
* Having a government that is too involved in our lives is far more of a threat than a government that isn’t involved enough.
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Read the whole thing. Works for me.
