The Case for Conservatism

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After posting my liberal case on the earlier Jerry Falwell entry, I’ve finally gotten around to thinking about conservativism. I can’t represent (or even understand) all the reasons why people are conservatives, but I’ve tried to think of conservative beliefs that I myself believe in and think are valid. It’s hard to write these without a lot of conditionals (“Of course, liberals believe this too . . .” or “Of course, many conservatives betray this . . .”), but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum.

1. Family values. No, I’m not talking about gay marriage or abortion. (I’ve never understood how gays getting married can harm heterosexual marriage. Wouldn’t the “breakdown” of the traditional family come from things like anger, abuse, heterosexual affairs, etc.? You don’t get divorced just because your gay neighbors get married.) Rather, I’m talking old-fashioned ideas like “wholesomeness.” “Clean.” Yes, even “smut.” I’m talking about the increasing normalization of sexual imagery, bad language, and bad behavior in society.

Example: Remember back in the 1980s when Tipper Gore (a Democrat!) tried to get labels put on CD that indicated adult content? A perfectly sensible idea that was already in place with movies. But liberals had to cry wolf and raise a stink about free speech. It was ridiculous, and the pompous air of the rock stars who grinned liked maniacs as they strode into Congress---like teenagers crashing the “adult table” at a dinner party---didn’t help. Message: We don’t care about protecting children, but we do care about being seen as great rebels with a cause, the self-righteous protectors of the right to express . . . filth.

Example: While this is a wholly unscientific statement based only on my own conjecture, don’t you think it was liberals who experimented with cussing in front of their children and letting their children cuss? I have a friend who did this with her first two children, and she told me (many years later) that it’s the thing she most regrets about how she raised them. Now when her two oldest girls fight, it’s full of obscenities and just seems more brutal than it should be. This friend had two other children later in life and didn’t repeat this allowance.

Example: The normalization of bad language and behavior---and its defense by liberals---has led to the current situation where the airwaves are filled with content that is inappropriate for anyone, much less children. “Nappy-headed ho’s” is just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s this idea among conservatives that America is experiencing the “death of childhood,” and I really believe that. Yes, many parents both conservative and liberal are protecting their children. But as a political group, are liberals making that easier or harder? (And here comes caveat number one: Of course, liberals are the ones trying to get, for example, universal health care, which probably protects children in more important ways. But this is my defense of conservative ideas that are right, not an indictment of those that aren’t.)

2. Fiscal responsibility. Well, once upon a time conservatives defended this, didn’t they? The Democrats are now the party of fiscal conservatism, but they did their own damage in the 60s and 70s, and there were conservatives who urged restraint. Once upon a time.

3. National security. I truly believe that Democrats would do a better job with national security than the Republicans, who over the last eight years have squandered our resources as well as our “soft power” (cultural leadership, rule of law, respect in the world). But Democrats are terrible at making that case, partly because they get up in arms at relatively innocuous compromises on civil rights. I do understand that the erosion of civil rights is a very serious matter, and that if it were a relative or friend of mine who was being held indefinitely without trial, I would be beside myself. And I do believe that, in order to listen in to the phone calls of U.S. citizens, the executive branch should go through the due process of court approval, which is relatively easy to get (it’s not like the president has to go wait in line at the DMV to get an approval stamp, for god’s sake). Due process is an important line between rule of law and rule of whim.

But Democrats give inordinate weight (and outrage) to compromises like listening to phone calls and tracking library records. The truth remains that we ARE targets, and there are lots and lots of bad people who would love nothing more than to take the people you love and blow them to smithereens. It’s so easy to forget what we’re up against when time has gone by without another attack. But they are trying, my friends. They are trying hard.

This reminds me of something that Bill Maher said a few years ago. He said, There’s one reason alone why there hasn’t been another attack on the United States. And that’s because John Ashcroft has personally gone to the house of every Arab man in the U.S. and checked them out. (Or something to that effect. Caveat the nth: No, I don’t believe in harrassing Arabs.) Bill Maher hates John Ashcroft and hates his dismantling of civil rights, but he gives him props for being ferocious in the hunt for the next plot.

Unless he was being sarcastic.

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So those are the conservative beliefs I share. Don’t hate me, my raging liberal friends! We’re still on the same team! Live Blue or Die! And here's a link to John Ashcroft singing to make you happy.

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