What does it mean to be a conservative?

[Connie Fournier]

I remember at hiti (that's a name I haven't thought about for years) from the old defunct Sympatico forums from around the time this thread began. I wonder if it's the same person?

Yup.

[Faramir]

The sort of conservatism I reject is pure Toryism or pure conservatism for the sake of simply preserving the status quo or tradition. Not all tradition is bad, but keeping to things that impede economic progress are a real issue for me. For example, a reactionary adherence to King and Country goes too far when monarchism is kept simply because it is what is so familiar to us.

I thought more about this listening to a Focus on the Family edition of Adventures in Odyssey and it reminded me of the inherent hatred the Church has for the business class. In this episode the main character’s wife wanted to preserve a community centre. The reasons behind it were right out of the leftist playbook. First Focus on the Family exaggerates the cultural situation. It seems every kid Mr Whitaker comes in contact with is an orphan, terribly poor, or a latchkey child, with no parental supervision. It is important to over state the cultural rot in America for the dramatization to work. I admit there is a rot in America, but I would say most parents make an honest effort in raising their children. Not too many parents actively seek to develop atheists or delinquents.

So we are told that the city has decided to sell the money sucking cultural centre to, you guessed it, a heartless developer, who will build a mall, and provide income to the town. This accurately reflects the basically hostile view the evangelical Church has to businessmen. We are told, again in typical Marxist fashion, that without the community centre, the bored and uncared for children will be abandoned and become sexual and cultural deviants (in so many words). Isn’t it the left that is always crying for programs and money to keep youth out of trouble?

This is the sort of conservatism that Santorum will bring to bear, and we got out of George W Bush, and even worse, George H Bush. Basically a do-gooder Christian version of nanny statism.

[Faramir]

Joe Clark was a self-serving idiot, in the usual Tory fashion

[Ben Kenobi]

This is the sort of conservatism that Santorum will bring to bear, and we got out of George W Bush, and even worse, George H Bush. Basically a do-gooder Christian version of nanny statism.

As opposed to Mitt Romney who's a progressive in every sense of the word? I'll take someone who shares my ideals on how the world ought to work over someone working for the enemy.

[Faramir]

I just mean America doesn't need 4 more Bush years. Of course, Romney is a complete dud as well, and worked for a company that received bail out moneys.

[planter]

I remember at hiti (that's a name I haven't thought about for years) from the old defunct Sympatico forums from around the time this thread began. I wonder if it's the same person?

I think hiti went by the name Kit E in the Sympatico forums. I was Loyalist back in them days.