Conservative Principles for the Conservative Movement
So much poison in power-- The principles get left out. So much mind on the matter, The spirit gets forgotten about.Neil Peart (Rush), "Grand Designs" (1985)
Conservative principles are deeply concerned with the kind of thing that one of the greatest poets and musicians of modern times was writing about back in the mid-1980s. His was not an attack on the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the American President of that time and the greatest American President we've had in at least a century. It was an attack on far-Left Liberal values--or, the lack thereof.
This is what tricks the unreflecting mad Libs: they don't understand that Conservative principles are just that--principles. Principles are like natural laws: they don't change with time. Yes, indeed, all kinds of changes spin and weave all around them. But Liberal are always looking for a new system. Well, all systems break down sooner or later. But principles never break down. They always work in any context to which they are relevant. Again, these are like natural laws. They are even like immutable spiritual laws. But with mad Libs in power, wielding the tyranny of democracy and the neo-mysticism of the Socialist rhetoric over us, there's "so much mind on the matter, the spirit gets forgotten about".
The mad Libs typically associate the "spiritual" with the "religious"--and of course they despise religions because religions by their nature put limits on the kinds of behavior they are suppose to engage in. But, spirituality does not have to be Christian, or Jewish, and it does not have to be of any religion at all. Spirituality, once again, is really a life lived according to unaging principles.
You see, Liberals hate that. They have no core, no center--and so, as another great poet said, "Things fall apart, The center cannot hold." Liberals pervert the concept of being unlimited, as they pervert every concept they come across. That which is ageless and timeless means nothing to their limited minds. If it's not new and always morphing into the next new thing, it's no good for them.
So, to fight against Conservative principles, the mad Libs label Conservatives as those who are mired in tradition and cannot abide change or progress. Really? So, Conservatives don't drive cars...don't fly in airplanes...don't start and own the businesses that depend on, and create, the new cutting-edge technologies that we all love? Conservatives don't love the Internet? Unlike Vice President Biden, we Conservatives know what our own e-mails say and where to find the good information online.
Conservatives are not "mired in" tradition. Conservatives respect tradition, just as those Conservatives who are not Christians respect the Judeo-Christian heritage of our great nation. They might not agree with it, but they quietly go their own way. They don't try to obliterate it like the mad Libs. And this all comes back to the fact that Conservatives of any religious beliefs are people who abide in principles--unaging, timeless principles that guide their decisions and behavior
.REAGAN REPUBLICANS
The Conservative movement today looks to Ronald Reagan as its guiding light--as its shining man on a hill. But, this doesn't mean that we should imitate everything he did. Why not? Because the Conservative movement today needs to realize that we don't live in exactly the same world that Ronald Reagan did. Reagan was not driven by anything other than...yes, ageless and timeless principles. He applied those immortal principles to the situation that he found the nation in from 1981 to 1989. Those principles informed him of how to deal with the historical, temporal circumstances of his Presidential days.
But, too many Conservatives today, disgruntled with the Republicans but unable to find total satisfaction with the too-devil-may-care Libertarians, place themselves--and the Republicans--in a no-win situation. If the Republicans don't imitate Ronald Reagan they cry, "Where's the Reagan?" But if the part does imitate him, they say, "Why are you living in the past?"
We need, right here and right now, to delineate Conservative principles that the modern Conservative movement must follow. It is these principles that we will demand the Republicans follow. Sometimes this will lead them to do things like Ronald Reagan, but at other times it will lead to them address our unique modern situation--such as redeploying troops stationed across the globe in a Cold War stance in a new way to address today's War on Terror, since the Cold War is done and won.
CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES
The Constitution contains everything we need right now to enable us to run this nation properly. This includes the provision for making Constitutional Amendments to deal with new technology and foreign relation changes. But an Amendment MUST NOT violate or fundamentally re-write the Constitution.
If you want peace, prepare for war. The best way to have order and peace in the world is for the United States to be the world's mightiest military power. War should always be our last resort--but when we must resort to it, we must be prepared to be as deadly as possible so as to win and to win as soon as possible.
The predominant religious tradition--Judeo-Christianity--of this nation is to be respected, even by those who do not adhere to it. An attack on the right of Judeo-Christian practices to exist is to be considered an attack against the United States and is cause for declaring treason or going to war.
Rights are not privileges. Rights are rights and cannot be taken away from free citizens by the judiciary or anyone else. Likewise, privileges are not rights. Nobody has the "right" to drive a car or live the life of a wealthy man, for instance.
You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
Fundamentalist Muslims and Socialists are enemies of the state and must have no power or public influence on any law or custom in this nation.
There may be times when "interference" in foreign nations' affairs is necessary to American security. After all, they do or intend to interfere with our affairs. Or do pirates now do something mysterious?
Marriage is strictly a heterosexual institution. There are gay Conservatives and they must have equal rights under the Constitution. But homosexual unions cannot be state-sanctioned any more than a mother marrying her own son can be sanctioned.
Private industry understands how and why do to things in a superior and more cost-effective way than anything the government can do, with the exception of military and law enforcement protection, emergency protection (such as local fire departments), and handling foreign affairs including immigration regulations. Therefore, private industry and private initiative must be allowed to run all affairs in this nation, including education and health care, with the exception of those few things enumerated here.
Illegal immigration is an abomination and must be treated as such.
Most of the time, when someone commits a crime, it's his own fault, and he must be made to pay for it.
The federal government as it currently is, is a bloated joke. Conservatives must immediately begin screaming for it to be shrunk by not less than 75%.
The welfare state is to be abolished. People who are down on their luck can look to charities.
The United States must withdraw from the United Nations.
Protectionism in international trade is unacceptable. We must deal in kind trade-wise with how a foreign nations deals with us, period.
conservative principles