Defining Five of the Pillar Principles of Conservatism

As a Conservative, I am often asked by other Republicans who mean well "Why is it that you Conservatives idolize Ronald Reagan?" Maybe the idolization of Reagan is much of what defines the problem with the Republican Party.  So, when given this chance, instead I look forward to presenting the Pillar Principles of Conservatism and explaining why we should NEVER SETTLE for less than a genuine conservative to represent us.


Much like the Reformed Christian Church, there are bedrock principles on which we, as Conservatives, should NEVER COMPROMISE. In church, when the message is diluted and compromised, the faithful often leave. Similarly, when the Republican Party abandons any of our principles, the message is diluted and the faithful leave, as they feel abandoned, disenfranchised, and no longer led or represented by our leaders. So let's take a look at what we conservatives believe.


Most citizens with any education knows the words in the Declaration of Independence (of the American Colonies from England) that read,  "...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Yet do we know or understand how they open the door to the Pillar Principles of Conservatism? 


The founding fathers of our country were radical conservatives, leaving their society, family, friends and homelands in order to worship in the way they felt called.  Unsatisfied with the state religion, they found themselves under the equivalent of dhimmitude.  They were often prosecuted as heretics, tried and found guilty by their church and friends in rigged trials orchestrated by failed leaders. Many were put to death or ostracized from society, for even translating the Holy Bible into the language of the common people.  They went elsewhere to be free from persecution, eventually coming to America.  So the freedom to practice (or even not to practice) the religion of your choice or RELIGIOUS CONSERVATISM is a pillar principle of Conservatism.


The founding Conservatives of the Republican Party were radical conservatives.  Although there was a biblical principle of debt, debtors selling themselves and even their families into indentured servitude (slavery because of debt), they believed in freedom.  Based on a higher biblical principle, they understood that GOD sent JESUS into the world to pay our sin debt and set those doomed souls already in slavery and justly sentenced to an eternity in Hell, free through his atoning sacrifice.  Upon HIS death, one of HIS last statements was "It Is Finished!"  We are taught that "It is Finished" is translated from the Greek into English, with the meaning that a monetary debt has been satisfied. In the case of Christ's death, it  meant that our indentured servitude to sin was paid in full.  We were free men, bought at a tremendous cost. Similarly, radical thinkers were convicted by conscience that slavery was a type of dhimmitude, making slaves less than human and more like property.  Men like John Brown hijacked the Federal Armory in Harpers Ferry, Maryland, with an act of Treason that cost them their lives, in an effort to engage the public against the evil of slavery.  While that fight is over, Abortion is the new issue of the day.  You will notice that both of these are Moral Issues, so I include MORAL CONSERVATISM  as a pillar principle of Conservatism.


While we were on the subject of Slavery and indentured servitude, the practice of purchasing something at the cost of your life service to another is considered abhorrent and has been outlawed in America for 150 years. Yet, here we are spending ourselves into oblivion, with no hope of paying down what we owe within our Lifetime, nor our children's lifetime, nor our grand-children's lifetime, nor even our great-grand-children's lifetime. We are indentured servants, having sold our freedom (and that of our children, grandchildren, and great-grand children). In doing so, we either are one of two things; a thief with no moral conscience or an immoral slave trader. Either way, we as a nation have overspent with malice of forethought. The only way to correct this is to live within our means, spend less than we take in, and pay down our debt with the surplus. This used to be called stewardship. It is the basis of FISCAL CONSERVATISM and we must practice this pillar principle of Conservatism as well as preach it.


In order to be Fiscally Conservative, we must cut costs and live within our means. By principle, we must get away from ALL of the places where government does not belong. The Departments of Education and Energy are two departments that we should eliminate immediately, as the Constitution has granted the government no authority to stick their nose into either place.  Other organizations that have run a muck and should be cut are the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Service, and the Federal Reserve Bank. When the Federal Government does only what is authorized in the Constitution and It learns to live within its (our) means, it will necessarily shrink.  Therefore, in advocating living within the budgeted tax income and following what the Constitution of the United States authorizes government to be and do necessarily defines SMALL GOVERNMENT CONSERVATISM as a pillar principle of Conservatism.


Finally, leaving our ancestral home lands and coming to a new land to which many European countries laid claim as colonies, the religious pilgrims, adventurers, businessmen, farmers, and debtors who came to America often had skirmishes.  The Spanish colonized Florida with eyes on taking North America as their Territory.  The French, still smarting after losing the Hundred Years War to England, had visions of colonizing North America starting in the Canadian Maritime Provinces (called Acadia).  Additionally, the English Colonists often had skirmishes with the many native Indigenous Nations.  Before 200 years had passed, since the discovery of North America, the French and the Natives decided to Ally with each other, with the purpose to try to drive the English out of North America.  In the end, the English beat the French, driving them out of Acadia (which was renamed Nova Scotia - New Scotland), but failed to dislodge them from Montreal and what is now Quebec.  The Acadians went to New Orleans becoming the "Cajuns" and lived in the other part of French North America, Louisiana.  Later, rebellious colonists decided that oppressive taxation without representation in the governmental process was not acceptable.  They rebelled against Super Power of the world (at that time) by good fortune of the hand of GOD.  Without the right to defend themselves, they would have been killed many times over by a multitude of Peoples and Nations that were hostile to their cause.  The defense of our selves and our rights was so important that our Founding Fathers codified the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution giving citizens the right to bear arms.  So DEFENSE/2ND AMENDMENT CONSERVATISM, the defense of one's rights and property with deadly force, is a pillar principle of Conservatism.


The statement "...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness," implies that:

1) We have the right to be free to Worship (or not) as we please.

2) We have the moral right to freedom, because we are not property.

3) We have the right to be free men, not sold into indentured servitude by insurmountable debt.

4) We have the right to demand better stewardship through small government from our elected officials.

5) We have the right to defend our selves, in order to stay alive. 


These are Core and Pillar Principles of Conservatism.

Why I remain a Conservative and oppose Libertarianism

A friend sent me an E-mail with the following picture and statements:

I think that Sowell is a genius. I will agree and stipulate to Sowell's statements because they are true. But I don't equate them with Libertarianism.

I cannot agree with and will NEVER will support pure Libertarianism, because of the push for Freedom without any Moral Bounds.

Libertarianism sounds so good on the surface; Economic common sense, combined with small government that adheres to the Constitution on the duties and responsibilities of government. However, it all goes terribly wrong after that.

Without any rules, men are allowed and even encouraged to allow their fertile minds to run wild. As an example, although many will argue that it's not the place of government to interfere in relationships between two adults, without constraint and penalty, many would divorce their partners, leaving them and their children destitute, kill those that angered them to the point of no return, or take another's property simply because he wanted it, all with malice of forethought.

There must be rules, whether written or unwritten. to govern, throttle and control man's desires. Unthrottled, a strong man will impose his power on a weaker man.  The rules (morality) that have been followed for centuries that have allowed us to prosper are the Judeo-Christian value system, which implores its adherents to live to a higher standard, to love your fellow man as yourselves and "to love the Lord your God with all of your heart mind soul and strength (if you're not a believer, to so closely follow the philosophy of the religion, as to NEVER intentionally break its precepts - however, without the devotion to a deity, it's doubtful that you could ever get there)."

Alexis de Toqueville, the French statesman, historian and philosopher had it right when he said:

Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers-and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests-and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce-and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution-and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.

There must be moral underpinnings that guide and constrain us, keeping us thankful and humble, yet inspiring us to use our fertile minds for good, to do more, be better, go farther and go faster. These rules cause us to focus on what we should change, that is within our power and does not violate the rights of others. While we, as a people, may not subscribe to a specific religion, if there are no guide that we must stay within, there will be no direction that causes us to focus our energies. These Guidelines are what makes America great.

Further quoting de Toqueville:

When these men attack religious opinions, they obey the dictates of their passions and not of their interests. Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary in the republic which they set forth in glowing colors than in the monarchy which they attack; it is more needed in democratic republics than in any others. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?
 
Where Conservatives have gone horribly wrong is overstepping our original bounds and rights in the name of altruism. What is seen as good infringes on the rights of one, constraining him to elevate another. We have followed the Liberals, Progressives and Socialists/Communists in making arcane rules that constrain to the point of servitude in the name of liberty and freedom.

Also quoting deToqueville:

Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. 

 

Alexis de Toqueville was one observant and smart guy.  Because he got to witness the France just after the French Revolution, up close and compare it with the American Revolution which had happened less than 15 years before, he got to see that there were distinct differences in the outcomes. So he came to America to find out how the outcomes of two similar revolutions during a short time period could be so different between these countries. In his investigation he discovered the differences. He came to understand:

• That the human heart could harbor evils and the need to restraint them
• That morality through religion could temper the megalomaniac's desires that each one of us harbors in his heart
• That the line between a representative republic and a socialist republic was fragile, fine and easily erased

The lack of restraint and megalomania sounds a lot like what is happening in America today. The line between socialism and a representative republic is being erased at a frightening rate as the moral fabric of society unravels.

The Liberals in America have succeeded in Destroying the Moral Fabric of the people by:

• Separating Religion from our daily lives and compartmentalizing it into church - destroying absolute morality and replacing it with situational rationalizations
• Demonizing Religion in Academia and the Public Square as old school thinking that must be destroyed and replaced with modern thoughts
• Demanding that Religion must be practiced only in a church or synagogue, on Sunday (or whatever day you meet and worship with others)
• Convincing people to follow their own Passions instead of the Best Interests for their country and society and
• Trying to ERASE ALL SIGNS of Morality and Societal Mores that have worked so well throughout previous generations.

Strangely enough, the demonization of religion only seems to happen with Christianity or Orthodox Judaism. Maybe it is because these are the only two effective religions in the world, due to their teaching that we are to Love GOD with all of their heart mind soul and strength and to Love their Neighbors as themselves. Because a VERY VOCAL MINORITY are afraid of being proselytized, Christians and Orthodox Jews are told to leave their religion at home or in church.

Interestingly, now Government, Educators and Business are perplexed and dismayed when educated citizens and employees who've been indoctrinated that “there are no Moral Absolutes,” willfully disobey laws and rules that have been set by those organizations. Many colleges have been forced to teach ethics classes to proud, self-congratulatory, self-centered students who have been spoiled with no rules, morals, or consequences in life. Many organizations are now being coached at a great monetary cost, as to the moral rules that their employees should have learned as children.

To use the words of a now famous bombastic preacher of Black Liberation Theology from Chicago, Looks like America's chickens are coming home to roost.

References for Alexis de Toqueville quotes:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alexis_de_tocqueville.html

http://www.bartleby.com/73/829.html

http://www.doctorsenator.com/AlexisdeTocqueville.html

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/DETOC/religion/ch1_17.htm