Posted on 04/08/2008 7:02:06 AM PDT by njweave
Hi, I'm Nick and I am from Illinois. I'm writing on this page because I have been brought up to be very liberal on every issue dominating the upcoming presidential election. I feel like I kind of been brain washed into thinking this way and have this image of every right-winged supporter to be a redneck, gun crazy racist. Now I know that this is sure as hell not the truth, but the real truth for me is that I really do find it hard to agree with a lot of Republican ideals especially when dealing with illegal immigration and abortion. What I'm asking is for somebody to give me some things that you feel are very positive contributions the GOP makes for our govt. I hate the idea that I'm prejidice against right-winged ideals but I would like to have some direct input from somebody who is conservative and why they choose to be.
Or the other option is just to tear me apart for being a northern liberal...either one i guess is gonna happen haha
Nick
Hi Nick. I have a grand son named Nick, he’s 8 years old and a conservative. Not yet a member here but I’m sure he will be some day, along with my 2 sons and a grand daughter, who already are.
Good luck, I hope you are serious.
Welcome to FR.
Well, let's start with the gun-nut vision you have towards right-wingers.
Compare the Virginia Tech shootings to where the perp was able to reload multiple times and kill over 30 people because no one was armed to stop him.
Compare that to the Luby's shooting in Texas years ago where a woman could have dropped the shooter early on but her gun was in the trunk of her car because she could not bring it into the restaurant.
And then compare that to the recent shooting in Colorado Springs where an armed volunteer church member dropped the perp before he could do much damage.
And then tell us who is actually nuts when it comes to concealed carry laws and the right to self-defense.
Conservatism is not something that can be taught over the course of a couple of posts. If you’re liberal now, it will take a change of heart and a lot of reading. Liberalism is about feelings, a useless way to try to govern. It will take a lot of reading and thought on your part if you want to learn about conservatism. If it could be summed up in one thought it would be: “get government out of the way.”
i was getting kinda down about the responses i was getting, i really thought this would help me out. But yours really gave me a big lift, maybe u could give me your views on conservatives and not just bash the entire left side...its getting repetitive i know how you gusy think about the liberals by now haha
thank u i will tell her right away
what is the difference?
you ask that question and unfortunately i know very little about the circumstances to it. I know if there was universal health care the poor would be taken care of better and over all a (dare i say it?) more equal place. But i am opposed of universal health care because it will make doctor’s salaries and turn away people who should be doctor’s to more high paying jobs. The U.S. is such a power house in medicine because it runs it hospitals and doctor’s offices as businesses and not public services. Universal health care will tarnish our medical research and may lead to top doctors leaving the country.
SO is there hope for me?
can you provide me an example of how liberals messed up our school system? I havent had any information on it
I have never Bush bashed, I get the impression that he may have messed some things up with invading Iraq...but what led to that could have been a number of things. I overall think Bush is an average president and I would have voted for him in 04 if I could have
whats a troll?
Don't call me a redneck, I'm a yankee.....
Thanks for your #51.
I highly recommend the various works of Jacob L. Talmon, cited in your post, for a close examination of the organic connections between French revolutionary thought of the 18th and 19th Centuries and totalitarian Communist thought of the 20th C.
Simple answer to your question; do you have a mother-in-law?
Why would you want the entire federal government to become just like your mother-in-law?
They live under bridges and whack goats who inexplicably attempt to cross. Geesh.
Pick a couple issues that are significant for you, and I'll address them as I would, not claiming to speak for conservatives in general. You mentioned redneck, gun crazy racists and illegal immigration and abortion. You've also mentioned the war and schools.
What should I address?
As long as there is a possibility you'll have children or be mugged, then there will always be hope for you. Those two things are probably responsible for the most "conversions" to conservatism.
One example of many. Schools can take underage girls out of school to have abortions without their parents knowledge, but aren't allowed to give them Tylenol for a headache. Does that make sense to you?
The GOP is in the business of having more GOPers elected.
Conservatives are in favor of protecting rights by strict interpretation of Constitutional law and promoting individual responsibility rather than government dependence.
Recent examples of differences include:
1. Campaign Finance Reform - This was favored by the media, so the GOP pushed for it (lead by McCain, signed into law by Bush). There are provisions in this act that clearly prevent free speech, and the act is proving to have little effect on finance abuses anyway - conservatives are heavily against this and it is a major point of difference between McCain and Conservatives.
2. Prescription Drug Subsidy - Again, as issue heavily favored by the media, so the GOP and Bush pushed for its passage. This is a very costly program, requiring an unfair proportion of earnings confiscation from wage earners, and further promotes dependence on government programs. It also interferes with the market forces which makes capitalism so successful.
3. Dragging Feet on Border Security - Despite being legally required to build a border fence, Bush and the GOP (and the democrats) are making little effort to complete the project. This is because both parties believe that the Latino vote will carry a lot of weight in the near future and neither party wants to tick them off. Conservatives believe that national security is one of the main Constitutional functions of government and that Bush/Congress are not performing their Constitutional duty in this regard.
There are other areas where conservatives and the GOP differ (Farm subsidies, Education, environment, United Nations, etc)
There is plenty of blame to go around in problems with our education system.
However, the icon of modern education, John Dewey, was a prolific fellow was a big proponent of Secular Humanism as a religion -- a replacement religion. Dewey and his followers thought that education should begin with the tearing down of assumptions and accepted beliefs and the rationalistic reconstruction of an individually built sphere of thought.
Where education was previously held to pass along accumulated wisdom and knowledge, it then could serve as a foundation. Once one was fully educated, then inquiry into new thought and concepts could begin on a solid foundation.
Leftists thought that time was wasted and that each pupil should "find himself" by starting original thinking without a foundation. Ebonics, education centered on feeling good about yourself, and the like are all the fruits of such thinking.
What did you find lacking in your education?
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