Conservatism

The Gunny was given the idea for this last night from an email from a woman named Suzette who asked a few questions via: libsmustdie@gmail.com, in regards to the past few essays. Her main theme was what makes Conservatives different than Liberals. Suzette, here is the answer.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Father of Conservatism, Edmund Burke firmly believed in the dignity of the individual and that is one reason why he was against the excess of the French Revoultion (while supporting our revolution) because the French for one, sought to destroy the individual, while we fought FOR individual rights. We still DO! Every single day it's us against the left, whether it be for the Second Amendment or the Fourth or the First, we fight every day to uphold what we believe in. We have the RIGHT, the God-given Right, not the State given right or the Comrade Maobama given right to pursue that which makes US happy, to pursue what motivates US, to keep what WE earn, and to remain in good standing, a part of a civil society.

The bottom line for a Civil Society is that individuals act in a cohesive manner, with shared interests and values. The Statist, more commonly known as a Liberal, is more at home as a member of a faceless group, whereas the Conservative values individual effort above all else. YOU are responsible for making YOUR life better not the State. That's 180 degrees out from liberal thinking. The Conservative believes that each human has a soul and a conscience which again, is 180 degrees out from liberal thinking. We are duty bound in a civil society to respect the rights of others, as laid down in the Bill of Rights AND from the traditions handed down from generations of thinking on the betterment of society through the betterment of the individual. That is a cornerstone of Conservative thought. Whereas liberals jump from social experiment to social experiment, like a lost soul grabbing at straws, we look at change before implementing it slowly, because if it ain't broke, then don't fix it! We respect values, customs, courtesies, and and traditions that have been passed down to us and that have become the bedrock of our cultural identity.
For example, for a hundred years or more, legal immigrants came here and EAGERLY infused themselves into American culture because we believed in a solid set of values and traditions, worshiped God in our own way, allowed others to do the same, and enjoyed a nation that, while not perfect, was far far better than anything else, and indeed, we who were born here, considered ourselves LUCKY to have been born here. That we had WON life's lottery and others wanted to join the American Dream. Here. Assimilated. Speaking English. Serving the Country. The citizen, natural born or naturalized, saw their duty to contribute voluntarily to their community and their country by being honorable, ethical, with self-discipline and sound judgement, that allowed the society to strive. Who can deny that America in the 1950's, before abject liberalism raised its ugly head, was not THE PLACE TO BE?

Conservatives believe in that private property is a basic human right and that it is intertwined with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This does not mean that one can run rampant over others because that is not in keeping with civil society but rather, the right to buy and own property is also linked to working hard and keeping what you make, in order to enjoy the fruits of one's labor. When the State, as Statists want, raise taxes, seize your money, to pay for the upkeep of a freeloader like Peggy the Moocher, this is nothing less than State-induced slavery. It is a denial of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. THAT is why Conservatives, not Republicans, but CONSERVATIVES, fight so hard on this subject.

It should be required reading for all Americans, that is, de Tocqueville's, "De la démocratie en Amérique," or "Democracy in America." Previously, the Gunny (and many others) discussed "incrementalism" or the encroachment of the State (by liberals) in little bites, as we are seeing today with the Maobama Administration. DeTocqueville writes about "soft tyranny" or "soft despotism" whihc is nothing more than the government becoming more and more oppressive over time until the people react, usually in riots and violence. Who can deny that liberals are not employing "soft tyranny" on Americans today? For example, The People's Republik of Kalifornia seeks to tell people what building materials they can use (for Gaia's sake), what their thermostat can be set at, where they can smoke, IF they can smoke, whether or not they can spank their children, what foods they can eat, whether or not to allow transfats, sodas, sugar, etc, in people's diets, if you have to wear a helmet or a seat belt, if you can own a gun, etc, etc, etc. Soft tyranny and the liberals and the RINO enablers in the GOP practice it well. This then is the tyranny of a few to the many, what our Founding Fathers opposed and what liberals PROPOSE to inflict on us today. Again, it's why we fight against it so hard.

Conservatism is like a lighthouse anchored on solid ground, allowing us to navigate the course of life, with a solid set of laws, rules, and mores to use in order to make the RIGHT decision. We're not perfect, no one is, but this method has served America well since before it was codified in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and unwritten traditional American values. This, of course, does not sit well with our opposite numbers, who are devoid of a moral compass to begin with. As we excoriated BJ Bubba for example, they circled the wagons for him. As we clamored for and cheered for, the imprisonment of liar and cheat Cunningham, they circle the wagons for William Jefferson. So as we support and defend the Constitution, they seek to rend it apart because they dislike having something that TELLS them they are wrong, that what they are doing is going against the grain for why else would liberals and the ACLU make war on religion so fiercely? Because it points out that they are WRONG! Statists don't like being told that.

Conservative are against the Statist, are against the rise of big government because it is alien to what our Founders desired for us. Its free people, in a free and civil society, that folow the values stated above, that ensure and enhance Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, which can be translated to prosperity and opportunity and self-growth. Conservatives demand that the government follow the Constitution as it was written, to the letter, because we KNOW that a government that is limited, that follows those limits, serves the people the best, not the other way around, which is what liberals or Statists prefer. We choose freedom, they choose state-induced slavery.

There can be no doubt that liberals will attack this essay on the basis that Conservatives are against change but nothing could be further from the truth. Comrade Maobama campaigned on "change, change, and more change," however, Burke already denoted the kind of change our opposite numbers want and what happens with it, "Change is novelty; and whether it is to operate any one of the effects of reformation at all, or whether it may not contradict the very principle upon which reformation is desired, cannot be known beforehand." Burke also wrote that these "changes" often conferred new rights on various groups, at the sufferance of others. Was Burke a prophet because what he wrote then is exactly what the liberal Statists have been doing since the 1930's under FDR and onward since them. Conservatives believe in change, after it has been thought out with "prudence" as Burke calls it, and then, implemented slowly to test its effect. Liberals in America today would chuck the baby out with the bathwater, subverting capitalism and the free market with socialism and a nationalized industrial base, which, as history shows VERY CLEARLY, does not work.

Conservatives, as we practice it, are happy and satisfied. We live, we work, we earn, we raise our families in a God-fearing nation with a solid work ethic, we serve in the military, and truly, leave the nation better than we found it. Liberals, or the Statists as they should be known are miserable creatures indeed. They are constantly disgruntled and are really unhappy people, always wanting something different, always thinking that they are owed something from someone, always searching for a utopia that will never exist, and wonder of wonders, are incapbale of any self-assessment much as a spoiled child is incapable of such an action. For example, witness the actions of the petulant man-child now in the White House, who, when criticized by Rush Limbaugh, not only attacked him personally but got his legion of idiots to go after Rush as well! The liberal is jealous and resentful of anyone who makes it in life, witness their constant attacks on CEOs and execs of ANY company. Several years ago it was Home Depot, then it was Walmart, now it's the Big Three and banks. Conservatives value the CHANCE to make it to the top, liberal-statists want to make sure NO ONE but a select few, or rather, a previously SELECTED few, make it to the top.

The bottom line here, what it all boils down to, is that Conservatives value liberty and freedom and consider them a blessing from their Creator but liberals see that as something to fight AGAINST! The individual cannot exist if a utopia is to be achieved. The liberal uses the word "equality" as a cover for collectivism and we can see this just yesterday when SUCKState Shrillary Clinton called for a "world" action against the Somali pirates, heedless of Jefferson's singular United States action against the Barbary pirates and in Comrade Maobama's speeches on his recent "Bash America Tour" across Europe and the Near East. It must be a "one-world" action, etc. Of course, with the liberal statist on top. Conservatives see the Constitution as an original contract, signed by humans, in a pact with their Creator, that must be followed for the good of following generations and indeed, Americans in 2009 are LINKED with Americans in 1775 THROUGH this very document. But liberals see it as a living breathing document, subject to change on demand, which would ensure nothing but chaos and disorder, the very thing our Founding Fathers FOUGHT AGAINST with this document. Conservatives want, need, and desire, order and discipline, but the liberal seeks disorder and undiscipline simply because they, as stated above, lack a moral compass. Like the lighthouse example above, storms may come and go, tides will rise and fall, but the Constitution (the lighthouse) provides a stable foundation that we, as Americans, can count on. Conservatives, at their core, prefer a life and a lifestyle that has been tried and tested over time, to have worked, and we encouragement the continuance of such a system, whereas the leftist, the liberal, the statist prefers continual change, continual upheaval, continual chaos, in pursuit of a utopia that can never be achieved and that can never serve any but the few at the top. Our system of beliefs, while imperfect, serves the many, serves society, and makes for a stronger nation, as we have seen from our beginnings until the election of Senator Government and his radical myrmidons.