Conservatism beyond ballots

We've all seen the news of the past week or so. It's been grim. It started with our elected kleptocrats deciding it would be a cool good idea to eviscerate the middle class through expedited trade authority. The hits just kept coming with the 9 unelected political hacks on the supreme court deciding first that the law doesn't mean what it says with regards to socialist medicine, and then following up and constructing new laws and privileges from whole cloth with regard to homosexual "marriage." For dessert, they decided that the Texas infanticide prevention law needed to be blocked.

This week, although more grim than usual, is just the latest in the ongoing political and cultural war against conservatives and traditional American values. While we have been arguably winning the electoral battles (2014 was a banner year for the gop) where are the attendant spoils of victory? Where is the conservatism? It isn't there. Moreover, conservatism in governance has been completely lacking for the better part of a generation. No, what we conservatives have received in exchange for our votes, our efforts, and our treasure is a government whose size and scope has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. At what point do we decide that the strategy of electing a new and improved set of kleptocrats doesn't work and isn't going to work? "It'll be different this time" isn't a plan; it's the mantra of a battered wife.

Grim as our current reality might be, I'm optimistic for conservatism. Not because of electoral politics; that's nothing but a black hole of villainy and despair. No, I'm optimistic because we might be at one of those points where there is at least an acknowledgement that what we're doing isn't working, and where something new might be given a chance.

What I propose as something new is very simple on the surface, but much more complex in reality. What I propose is that instead of throwing more money and more votes and more resources at a corrupt political system is that we live and act as conservatives AND start looking for ways around caesar. You see living as a conservative is in my view it's own reward. It's a better life. So why not live it and be someone that others will want to emulate?

On the surface, living conservatively this is easy to accomplish. But in reality it is more complex now because of the incessant interference of caesar and his edicts. So the second part of looking for ways around caesar as necessary. I like to call these SOLUTIONS; something that the political class is very short on.

Let me give you a small example of what I mean with regard to obamacare. Obiecare is a disaster and we're probably stuck with it for now. We could spend our time on yet another attempt to repeal it accomplishing nothing. Or perhaps we can instead acknowledge that the economics of obiecare don't work and never will work, and allow its own contradictions to bring it down....with some gentle shoving from conservatives. So why not look at alternatives? Ways around obiecare? There are plenty of loopholes. The health sharing ministries being a huge one. In case you aren't aware of them, there 5 that operate on Biblical principles. They treat healthcare in a fashion very similar to the Amish: they share the bills and pray. The ministries are EXEMPT from the obiecare tax penalty tax. They also don’t contribute a dime to obiecare or its allies in the insurance industry. There are other SOLUTIONS such as manipulating income to hit the sweet spot for the thresholds so as to just get a catastrophic care plan. Oh and of course we should share what we learn. That's another conservative value.

So in summary, what I'm suggesting is that conservatives act as Conservatives, as Christians, and spend time trying to craft solutions that get around caesar. So long as we limit ourselves to the alternatives and strategies proposed by those who have a vested interest in our defeat, we will lose. Further, we shouldn’t expect government to come swooping in to correct problems that we ourselves are capable of dealing with. How is that different from what liberals do?

"...start looking for ways around caesar."

On the big picture and topic of your post, here are two legal and honorable ways to accomplish what you're asking.

1. Learn to become more frugal and self-sufficient. Do it yourself. That will decrease what you give to "Caesar" without doing it the Greco-Roman way (see Greco-Roman-Hun communities, cash under the table, prostitution, hard drugs, connected lawyers, organized crime).

2. Support Scott Walker. He's the only politician who has a record of actually cutting spending on obese government.

Otherwise, the remainder of the default process will surely solve the problem for us anyway. Big government will become small.

Yeah, the bastards are looking to have their own little enclaves to ride out the storm. Too bad the “little people” will know where. Nothing like a false sense of security. Aristocracy meet jacobins: sucks to be you.

I’m actually more optimistic on the future. Lots of the kiddies are clueful. And they can use their hands!

I’ve lived in a greco roman culture. Its actually quite nice and Americans could learn a lot from it. Ultimately I think that the self sufficient and frugal side of the equation is better. But others will disagree. And I can live with that.

As for Scott Walker, I’m pretty much done with Princes and Potentates. He might turn out to be worthwhile. He might not. I’m not going to get excited about it. I think the way our side wins is outside of caesars elections and intrigues.

"Yeah, the bastards are looking to have their own little enclaves to ride out the storm. Too bad the “little people” will know where. Nothing like a false sense of security. Aristocracy meet jacobins: sucks to be you."

Jacobins...interesting history. It appears that the alternative at the time was monarchy. It is interesting to compare centralized governments of monarchies with similar governments of today (for example, government by the PLA in China).

Resources in such governments were not often earned by ingenuity and labor but rather, by social associations, dirty deeds and dramas. I cannot think long about what life might have been like under European monarchies, for example, life in a guilded cage with a guilty conscience.

As you see, I have very little recent European heritage. I'm an American, mostly of several hundred years of American heritage. Our nation is only infected by antithetical heritage for a short time. The default process will probably be part of the solution, with waves of layoffs like cleansing swipes with a disinfectant.

Long ago, I grew up in a very clean, peaceful neighborhood of unpretentious mechanics, carpenters, soldiers, factory workers and a preacher. My father was present and attentive, even though he worked long hours. The neighborhood on the other side of a school was the more pretentious neighborhood. It was very tidy, but it was full of scandalous troubles and violence just under the surface.

We should get as much as we produce, in my opinion. Communism won't afford that for many. Neither will fascism.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.