Vets on the Watch on Conservatism

Sam Ewing once said:

“Hard work spotlights the character of people:
some turn up their sleeves,
some turn up their noses,
and some don't turn up at all.”

In general, the term conservative embodies this thought. To be conservative means that you don’t want or need a handout from the government; you are more than willing to roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to succeed. This is not to say that you will not accept a hand up, but a hand out is inconceivable.

Some say that to be conservative is to want to maintain the status quo. While that may be true in a sense, it is a very large over-generalization. It is my desire that the government remain as it was designed- a governing body whose sole purpose is to protect its citizens. This is not by growing ever larger, with providing ever more entitlements, but by enacting sound policy that governs our trade and security affairs and staying out of the lives of its citizens.

It is my desire that the legislative branch quit telling me what is right to believe or say. I do not want to be punished because I believe that I am not responsible for something promoted 5 or 6 generations ago or that it is wrong for people of the same sex to want to infringe on a purely religious institution or that while global warming certainly can be attributed to the intensity of solar activity the fact that man made the problem is purely an activist view. It is my desire that government quit bowing to the whims of a minority group who happens to have a well-funded supporter who begets those extensive media times. Live and Let Live is a quality motto to live by, until letting live means having to table my own personal beliefs.

It is my desire that the judicial branch upholds the constitution, not ratify it through inappropriate judgments. Our founding fathers put together a document that is not a living or breathing thing that can be interpreted a dozen different ways, but rather a set of core ideals that need to be rigorously and vehemently defended at all costs.

It is my desire that my children not be stuck with the serious mistakes made by their parents’ generation. I believe, like John Adams, that my children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom so that they are fully aware when those freedoms are being infringed upon. To offer anything less is doing a disservice to them.

It is my desire that the money collected by my government not be used to supplement institutions that help women abort the children they had no right aborting. While I understand that there exists an obligation to protect the life of a woman in extreme cases (and other obligations to abused women) the fact remains that if a woman wishes to promote irresponsibility the full cost should be burdened by her, not me.

My above arguments in no way mean that I want to maintain the status quo. Conservative does not mean static and immobile. I wish for values such as life and the pursuit of happiness to become the norm and not the exception. Too often there are those who are slandered, ridiculed and run out of town merely for expressing their constitutionally protected viewpoint (i.e. the gay marriage proponents). Too often the rights and beliefs of the millions like me are suppressed in favor of a more progressive ideal. Too often the voice of the many is shouted down by the voice of the few.

Change for the sake of change is no better than not changing at all. But it is a course that our great nation continues to follow. A course which this conservative shall endeavor to change.

Sean Williams [EagleEye]
http://vetsonthewatch.blogspot.com