Guest editorial by
Virg Collins
What makes one person a conservative and another liberal? Are all conservatives republican and are all liberals’ democrats? It seems that our system is divided along such lines. I realize there are Rinos and Dinos so if I use the words Republican and conservative interchangeably and do the same with Democrat and liberal, I do so for convenience only. I would readily vote for a Democrat if that person held more conservative views. I wasn’t old enough to vote at the time but I would have voted for President John F. Kennedy in a heartbeat, but never for Senator Edward Kennedy.
According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary the definition of Conservatism is: “a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change.”
While concise, it doesn’t adequately define the conservative mind-set. I am all for tradition and social stability and I certainly prefer gradual development to abrupt change especially if it hasn’t been well thought out such as the recently passed healthcare legislation. The problem with quickly instituted change without benefit of ample study is that once passed into law it is seldom changed and never repealed, even if later determined to be a poor idea. But these only scratch the surface. My own reasons go much deeper but space is limited so I would like to hit the one thing I believe to be a factor for all conservatives. I think one ideal that all conservatives uphold is the concept of personal responsibility.
I believe many my age and older may claim to be democrat without thinking it through. My father and some of his brothers claimed Democratic affiliation of the New Deal variety. They lived through the Depression and believed in FDRs programs. They supported President John F. Kennedy but to a man gave that same support to the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Like many of their time my father and uncles believed in the cornerstones of conservative thinking. They were anti-socialist and believed in free enterprise. They firmly believed that each person should support his family without dependence on government welfare as well as take responsibility for their own actions to include obeying the law. They favored capital punishment for heinous crimes and their belief in the United States as the greatest country in history was unwavering. One of my father’s biggest disappointments was that he couldn’t join the armed forces during World War II because of his eyes. Several uncles did serve their country and without a draftee in the bunch.
Other than the obvious, like smaller government, smaller deficit and constitutional compliance, my main reason for conservative leanings is a strong belief in personal responsibility. Almost all other views such as foreign aid, gun control, welfare, abortions, and a host of others follow directly from ones thoughts of personal responsibility. The far left doesn’t want personal responsibility clouding the issue. They seem to think it is better to have a nanny-state so everyone is taken care of from cradle to grave.
Most conservatives believe we each create our own successes and failures by individual actions. I do not believe I should judge other’s actions or decisions by my own standard but I do believe they are responsible for the outcome of their decisions for good or ill. Without exception I believe that everything that has happened in my life is a direct result of decisions I have made.
As an example, I smoked heavily for about thirty years and finally quit about twenty-five years ago. While I am certain that my lungs are in far greater shape now than they were when I used tobacco products, I could still be subject to lung cancer. If that occurred one may reasonably relate that outcome to my decision to start and continue smoking for so long.
Many are willing to accept responsibility for their successes but want to look for someone else to blame for their failings. We blame teachers if students don't do well in school. It’s easy to blame society for crime, or how about blaming the rich for the poverty that exists. Let’s blame the stores for high prices and it is certainly McDonalds and Burger Kings fault that so many people are fat. Let’s blame them so we don't have to carry the burden of any personal responsibility. I carry more weight on my frame than I should and I like a good burger as much as anyone but I have a news flash for you, It isn't McDonalds fault that I'm overweight and I'm not going to sue Burger King for my own lack of self-control.
Are there bad teachers out there? Of course there are, just like there are incompetent people in every profession. Is that justification for a student not putting forth the required effort to learn? Absolutely not, they have a personal responsibility to take the required steps to learn and their parents have the responsibility of supporting them. If we feel all teachers or the institutions are bad then let's take steps to change the system, which many already believe we should do.
It is obvious that our father, mother or society is to blame because children turn into juvenile delinquents and later hardened criminals. Sorry, that doesn't wash. Our environment certainly has an influence on our growth and maturity but at least by the age of ten most of us knew the difference between right and wrong. If you are allowed to get away with it young, you only go downward from there until the big one that gets someone's attention. Now let me do a quick about face and say that many parents don’t help by thinking their poor little baby can do no wrong and try protect them from a good dose of personal responsibility, or even worse, just don’t care.
Another tool of the far left that would fall under the speeding bus of personal responsibility is victimhood. It is impossible be a victim if you are responsible for your own actions. (Now there is a future subject).
It is unwise to depend on the government or anyone else to take care of all areas of life. In general everything the government gets involved in fails. Social Security is broken, Medicare is broken. The purpose of the federal government is to deliver our mail and protect our borders and they are failing miserably at those tasks. All other government actions should be handled at the state level with occasional help as needed (seldom please) from the federal government.
The road we are following will not take us where we wish to go.
Some conservatives like to bait the far left just to hear them squeal. Not me of course, but I might offer a suggestion. As much as Sarah Palin or (soon) Michele Bachmann raises the shrillness, how about we just nominate Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin for president and watch the left really go ballistic.
All in all its "Just One Man's Opinion".
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