In Defense of Conservatism

In Defense of Conservatism

(Directed towards liberals, but other conservatives are welcome to read and agree or disagree)

I am a conservative. Now before you stop reading or start thinking about all the ways you are going to tell me I’m wrong, please, wait. The purpose of this post is primarily to help you see my point of view. I am not trying to convert you. I’m just trying to help you understand, and hopefully convince you that we are not evil for what we believe. I feel that if we are ever going to get anything done in this country, we must rise above the childish name calling, labeling, exaggerating, and mud-slinging. (Yes, people do this on BOTH sides.) We have to rise above these things and seek for understanding. For truth. When we understand why people believe the way they do it can help us put aside fear, anger, and hatred and really seek what is best.  I am starting here. With striving to help liberals understand conservatism.

I’m not attempting to dive into details of each and every issue out there. I am not trying to convince you. I am asking that you understand. You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to even like what I say. But my plea is please; please don’t hate me for what I believe. I don’t hate you for what you believe, and I see that in the many ways we differ, it is not because one person is evil and the other person is good. We are both seeking for good, we just have different ideas on how to get there, and what that really is.

First issue: Capitalism

Yes, the evil capitalism. I feel like many perceive capitalism as the economic plan from Satan...or something. We want to keep the rich wealth and the poor destitute. But really? For those of you who know me, do you really think I feel that way about the poor? A lack of empathy? Some may feel this way, but I am sure if you ask the average conservative if they want the poor to rot in their poverty because they deserve it, he or she would be appalled. Of course that’s not what we want. We don’t hate the poor. We love them. And we love freedom. We love the American dream. We love the idea that NO ONE can tell you that you are stuck being poor for the rest of your life. We love the idea that your life can be as big as your dreams. I love the idea that as we are starting out, poor college students starting our own business, we can potentially reach our dreams. No one can put a limit on how high we can go! That’s the American dream! Freedom to succeed! Freedom from dependency on welfare or financial aid. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to help the poor. In fact, it means we DO want to help them. We want to help them reach their dreams! Whatever they may be! We want to help them realize that they don’t have to settle for where they are. No matter where they are in life, we believe that anyone, everyone can make it big.

Now if you are reading this and thinking all the reasons why I’m wrong and writing in your head your response, please remember this post is not trying to convince you that this is the right way. I am just trying to help you see that because I see the good in capitalism, I’m not evil. This is my perspective. I won’t think you’re evil if you lean towards socialism. That’s your perspective and I can understand how that seems positive as well. So please, I’m not writing this to fight, only to help you understand so we can get rid of the hatred and anger.

Second Issue: Immigration

I know that some conservatives have definitely given us a bad name in this area. It seems that if we are against illegal immigration we are racist. If we were against immigration we might be racist. But we are against ILLEGAL immigration. Why? Because we love fairness. It seems so unfair if we are okay with people coming over illegally, while others who seek to follow the law and do what’s right have to wait so long to go through all the red tape to get in and stay in. I don’t know if all my conservative friends feel this way, but I feel that America should welcome EVERYONE. It is a land of promise and opportunity. And we are happy to welcome everyone to come in legally. Because in our minds, it just isn’t fair to give positive reinforcement to those who are illegally coming in (through benefits and appeasement) and punish those who are legally trying to follow the law by making them get through a lot of red tape. I don’t know what the solution is on this situation, I’m not that brainy. But I do know that conservatives take a stricter stance on illegal immigration not because we are hateful bigots but because we want to be fair.

Third issue: Gay Marriage

Yep, I just typed it. I know this is a hot topic and potentially hurtful. I have some lesbian and gay friends that I truly love and do not want them ever to doubt that love by writing this. So please remember, once again, my goal is to help you understand things through the eyes of a conservative.

This is such a tricky topic. Because it is painted as a human rights issue, yes we are seen as the scum of the earth if we are against it. I am going to try to delicately explain why it is such a big deal to some of us.

First of all, a thinking exercise for you. Think of some behavior that you personally think is wrong. Completely wrong. Now, what if someone came to you and said: “you  CANNOT think that is wrong, you SHOULD NOT teach your children that it is wrong, and in schools we are GOING to teach that it is okay, and you better be okay with that.”

You probably wouldn’t be okay with that.

To us, (I should say to the religious actually because I don’t even know if this is a conservative issue anymore really) that is exactly what is happening. We see homosexual behavior as immoral. (Behavior, mind you. Homosexual people are and should be loved and respected by us and everyone, just as we all should.) So the idea of politically endorsing marriage, which in turn endorses what we perceive to be an immoral behavior seems so wrong to us. I know it is hard to understand, especially when you don’t see homosexual behavior as immoral. But we do. And so how can we publicly support something that we feel is immoral? Could you publicly support a behavior you feel is immoral?

 

So here my plea is, even if you think we are wrong, please realize that we are not hateful bigoted people. We love these people. Please realize we can be loving, sympathetic, understanding people who at the same time believe that something is immoral. Please don’t resort to hate speech, anger or name calling. Please just understand. You don’t have to agree. Just understand and agree to disagree.

Conclusion:

I’m sure there are many other parts of conservatism that can easily be painted as evil. I’m also sure that there are people out there that paint liberalism just as evil, and I could probably just as well write another post called “In defense of Liberalism.” My point is that though we have very different views on many different things, rather than the hateful facebook meme’s, the heated arguments, and the blaming one side or the other, we need to come to a realization that being on one side or the other does not make us evil. We all want what is good, right, true, and pure (for the most part. I’m sure there are some crazies out there that really do want doom and gloom for the world). We are trying our best to make sense of this crazy world. Though we go about it different ways and disagree, that should never give license to hate, one side or the other.

Now if you are a liberal and you read this, you are more than welcome to disagree with me on these points but I won’t argue them because as I said, that’s not my purpose. I have learned in my life that arguing gets you nowhere. (But discussion, I’m always up for discussion. That is how we truly learn). I just hope you understand a little bit how conservatives think, and realize we aren’t evil. Even if you disagree with every word I say please just agree on this one thing: To seek understanding. And I promise that is what I will seek from you. 

And that is what is going to make our country better.

Fight for Morality

My last post talked about legislating morals and I ended with the question "Who's morals do we legislate?" This is an excellent talk on how we as Moralist can fight for morality in the public sector, and addresses how to approach morality in government.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/02/balancing-truth-and-tolerance?lang=eng

Legislating Morals

I often hear the idea thrown around that government "cannot legislate morals."

I can understand why people think this. Often they equate morals with religion, and they think that we must have separation of church and state (another post on separation of church and state to come later). Therefore, because the government and religion should be separate, we cannot or should not legislate morals, according to many.

It is important to realize that moral beliefs are more than religious beliefs. Even the idea that government should not legislate morals is a moral belief. The idea of "separation of church state" is also a moral belief.

Our government would not be a government if it did not legislate morals. Every single thing that it legislates is based on someone's moral belief. Even things that seem totally unrelated to religion, like taxes for example. The idea that we should all pitch in so that we can have things like roads, clean water, protection, etc. is a moral belief. The idea that people who rape and murder or cause any other type of harm should be punished is also a moral belief.

Government is government because it legislates morals: your morals, my morals, someone's morals. If the statement "we cannot legislate morals" were actually true, it would mean we should have no government. That would be anarchy.

Therefore, the question is not whether or not we should legislate morals (we should, unless we want anarchy), but whose morals do we legislate?

What do you think? Whose morals do we legislate?

My Personal Political Party:The moralists

Moralist:

mor·al·ist

 [ máwrəlist ]   

1. somebody with high moral standards: a follower of a strict moral code
2. critic of moral standards: somebody who seeks to regulate the moral standards and behavior of others
3. specialist who studies morality: a student or teacher of morals as an academic discipline

      (Definition attributed to Bing dictionary)

I identify most with the third definition. Philosophy and the study of morals and morality are my greatest passions. I do try to live high moral standards and believe that it is important to encourage others around me to seek to live higher moral standards as well.

People often consider me a conservative. But I refuse to identify with either party. My sister wrote an excellent piece on political parties and their problems (which you can read if you click here) and my feelings mirror hers. People get so caught up with who is right and who is wrong. They get stuck on their "causes" or their platforms. It inhibits them from seeking what is most important: truth.

And that's my platform: seeking truth.

Some may argue that all truth is relative, and that there is no absolute truth. I laugh at that because that very statement disqualifies itself. If you say "there is no absolute truth" then you are actually saying "there is no absolute truth, except for this one statement" but if that one statement is true, then there IS absolute truth.

There are absolute truths out there. And yes because we are human and not all knowing we often interpret  them according to our own subjective views of the world. However, just because we see things through a subjective lens, doesn't mean that there are no absolute truths.

I will not align myself with one party or the other because rather than focusing on the ever changing values of political parties, I want to focus on real, absolute values and focus on finding truth.

That is my goal. And I plan to blog my findings. Feel free to join me in the quest for truth, because in the end, the "truth shall set you free." (John 8:32)