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The American definition of a conservative, and why that definition matters [Vanity]
Free Republic | 11-8-2015 | Tom Hoefling

Posted on 11/07/2015 11:58:56 PM PST by EternalVigilance

What exactly is a conservative, in the historical American sense of that word?

A conservative is someone who understands the self-evident truth that our rights come from God, not from any man.

A conservative is someone who understands that, before anything else, legitimate human government exists to equally protect and defend our God-given, unalienable, individual rights, including the rights of those who are as yet unborn.

A conservative is someone who understands the simple difference between right and wrong.

A conservative is someone who understands the fundamental, crucial nature of the God-created, God-defined, God-instituted marital union of one man and one woman, and the natural family and posterity that can only spring from that union.

A conservative is someone who understands that the first part of the laws of nature and nature's God is the right of self-preservation, in other words, the right to possess and use whatever physical means are necessary to defend our lives, our liberty, and our property.

A conservative is someone who understands the absolute necessity of having a government which will defend our national sovereignty, our national borders, and our national security.

A conservative is someone who understands the necessity of preserving our republican form of constitutional self-government.

A conservative is someone who demands that our representatives in government understand and fulfill the sacred oath of office which they are constitutionally required to swear.

It's fairly simple really.

But let me leave you with a question tonight: How may of those who are in public office today, or who are running for public office in 2016, are actual conservatives? I would assert that there are few.

And until we change that, hope for America ebbs away.


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: conservatism; conservative; constitution
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To: cripplecreek

“Constitutional Christian Conservatism is the only true conservatism.”

There are very few on this site, and none in government by this description.

We should educate folks on Free Republic that “conservatism”, for instance, doesn’t come with a government check.


21 posted on 11/08/2015 5:29:54 AM PST by RFEngineer
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To: EternalVigilance

Great post- a great expression of principles

It’s difficult when the definition relates to specific policies.

Such as when we conservatives want to cut the federal budget and layoff government workers, give power back to the states, bring the troops home, return to the gold standard...


22 posted on 11/08/2015 6:16:36 AM PST by ReaganGeneration2
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To: EternalVigilance

I define a Conservative as an individual whose ideal is to Conserve, Protect and Defend our founding documents; the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, everything it means to be American is wrapped up therein.

We have strayed way to far from our duties and responsibilities, we should have already under the authority of the our founding documents DEPOSED this current tyrannical government we continue failing miserably.


23 posted on 11/08/2015 6:57:15 AM PST by PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
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To: EternalVigilance

That’s the problem. Nobody is conservative enough to meet everyone’s definition of conservative. If the candidate looks to be conservative in office, I’ve come to disregard what they do outside office. And once I’ve settled on a candidate I resolve to ignore shit that does not matter.

My support for Cruz or Trump is committed no matter what the opposition, that is to say the media, digs up on them. I’m no longer looking for perfection. At least, that’s the plan.


24 posted on 11/08/2015 10:18:04 AM PST by sparklite2 (All will become clear when it is too late to matter.)
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To: sparklite2

I don’t care about “everyone’s definition of conservatism.” I care about a core set of non-negotiable principles and public policies.

Gingrich failed right out of the gate back when he first was elected to Congress in the late Seventies when he helped Jimmy Carter launch the unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education. The unconstitutional things he supported only multiplied from there.

If you think constitutionality is among those things that don’t matter, don’t act surprised when the country continues down the path to its destruction.


25 posted on 11/08/2015 10:22:57 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance

Very good article Tom this is why none of the Candidates running for the Republican nomination have my support.


26 posted on 11/09/2015 4:12:46 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (MARANATHA)
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Thanks.


27 posted on 11/09/2015 7:03:46 AM PST by EternalVigilance (Without God, all you are left with are empty "isms.")
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To: EternalVigilance
I'm delighted to see what I've come to understand as "America's Principles" summarized very well in this post. And I'm all for conserving those principles. But I recall being taught as a schoolboy in the 1960s that the term "conservative" has an important meaning -- describing a presumption against change. Here's the pretty simple continuum of different perspectives on the desirability of change:

* Reactionary - wants major change back to how things were at some prior point

* Conservative - averse to change

* Liberal - very open to change

* Radical - wants major changes away from how things are and in a direction quite different than the reactionary wants

I want major changes. Some reactionary, some radical. I think we'd have been much better off as a nation if Jefferson's longest criticism of the King (re the imposition of slavery) had not been deleted from Declaration of Independence, and if the Constitution had not codified slavery.

28 posted on 11/09/2015 7:22:01 PM PST by Steve Schulin (Cheap electricity gives your average Joe a life better than kings used to enjoy)
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To: Steve Schulin

Salient points, my friend.


29 posted on 11/09/2015 7:40:27 PM PST by EternalVigilance (Without God, all you are left with are empty "isms.")
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To: Steve Schulin

I guess when I hear the term conservative I primarily think of it as representing the conservation of the original moral principles upon which the country was founded and built.

If those principles are still in play, they need to be maintained.

If they’ve been neglected, they need to be brought back into play, pronto.


30 posted on 11/09/2015 7:42:56 PM PST by EternalVigilance (Without God, all you are left with are empty "isms.")
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To: EternalVigilance

A Conservative doesn’t want to sell out American industry with unFree Trade practices. A Conservative wants to fight back with protectionism and promote domestic competition. The founding father’s were all protectionists and tariffs are the most viable way of raising revenue and are preferable to income taxes.


31 posted on 11/09/2015 7:44:51 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va

Any American politician who won’t put America’s interests first is a traitor.


32 posted on 11/09/2015 7:50:50 PM PST by EternalVigilance (Without God, all you are left with are empty "isms.")
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