How many here are one-issue conservatives?

06/26/2003 | TMMT

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

How many here are one-issue conservatives?

This I bring up due to the possible SCOTUS retirements being tossed around the net and in the media.

I've seen a lot of folks blow up over the abortion issue and I get the feeling there are a lot of one-issue conservatives among us who will rot in hell before letting a 98% conservative candidate go through if his only “non-conservative” issue is abortion.

Also by those standards, can someone like myself be considered a “conservative” if I actually just don’t care about the abortion issue?

TMMT

[BrooklynGOP]

Also by those standards, can someone like myself be considered a “conservative” if I actually just don’t care about the abortion issue?

I think so.

[wideawake]

Put me down as one of those short-sighted individuals who thinks that millions of slaughtered children are more important than tax cuts.

[tiamat]

I'm not.

I won't ditch someone good if they MOSTLY agree with me.

I am anti-abortion.

I still think Condi Rice is important and I would support her if she ran for office.

NOTHING in this life is pure or perfect.

Tia

[Garrisson Lee]

I've noticed that if you go against a certain cadre of bushbots on any issue, you become a one-issue conservative and "malcontent."

If you want the Constitution upheld as intended, that makes you a one-issue person.

[W04Man]

This is a very Interesting Question that also follows from a recent local discussion about a "Broad Tent" concept for a local Republican Committee. I'm very interested in the following comments on this thread.

[AuH2ORepublican]

If someone would rule that there is a constitutional right to an abortion, then that person would not be a conservative judge, since he would believe in legislating from the bench. However, if a politician believes that abortion should be legal, he would not be *my* kind of conservative, but could be deemed to be a conservative if he takes conservative stances on other issues. Of course, it has been my experience that people who believe that abortion should be legal also believe that gay marriage, drug use and pornography are OK but that religion is somehow harmful, so I would posit that very few people who believe that abortion should be legal are true conservatives.

[WKB]

Put me down as one of those short-sighted individuals who thinks that millions of slaughtered children are more important than tax cuts.

If we could cure the root of abortion 99% of the other problems solve themselves.

[W04Man]

I would guess it depends on who is interpreting the constitution, huh?

[WKB]

This looks like something you would like to get in on.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

I consider myself a conservative on some issues and others, although on a few I consider myself a Libertarian.

I am truly less government and I think both parties are lost causes in that respect.

I too believe in a strict constitutional interpretation.

The RATS somehow find the right to abortions in the constitution while they say the second amendment is just not there.

I just don’t get excited about abortion; I believe that abortion is a state issue… end of story. If states want to ban it into oblivion so be it, if Kalifornia or the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts wants to abort everyone born from this day forward, have at it, all things considered we might be doing the world a huge favor, I don’t care either way.

I just find it VERY short sighted for a person to talk someone who supports 98% of the conservative agenda and crucify them simply because they feel the way I do about abortion.

TMMT

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I too believe in a strict constitutional interpretation.

I believe that abortion is a state issue… end of story."

---

In that case, you should join us pro-lifers in making sure that the next Supreme Court Justice is a strict constructionist who will help overturn Roe v. Wade.

[Buckeye Bomber]

I'd much prefer we all just stopped talking about abortion. It's really hard to agree to anything when the fundamentals aren't even agreed upon. If one person believes the baby is created at the moment of conception (such as myself), and another believes it isn't actually alive until it is born, how can they agree on anything?

I'd like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and leave it to the states. That would have been much less divisive. The problem is that both sides believe the other side is truly evil. Who compromises with evil? I'd really like to see some sort of compromise, just to stop this whole debate. My proposal is to allow first term abortions, and after that gradually steepening penalties. But that's just me. Any thoughts on this idea?

I'm really not a very good Conservative. I believe the government should just leave us alone unless it can prove beyond reasonable doubt it has a reason not to do so. I voted for Bush in 2000, and I probably will again in 2004, but my biggest problem with him is that he doesn't seem to want to shrink the government. Plus he sold out to the farmers and steel industry. So I'd say I'm about a 6 or 7 issue Conservative. But in the end, Conservative means that someone believes proven societal actions should be discarded only with great proof of their uselessness.

They way things have always been done and smaller government are always better until proven otherwise really really well.

[Abram]

This is an extremely interesting thread. I get really bent out of shape at some Republicans that will not support certain candidates that they see as "RINOs" or because they don't agree on one or two issues.

To begin with...I am a devout Christian and believe the abortion is a sin...plain and simple. I don't believe it is a political issue. Religious, moral, ethical...yes, but not political. Prayer in school, death penalty...these are state issues.

I believe real liberterian issues. Smaller government which means minimal if any government intervention in the lives of the population. The government exists to provide a safe community, free enterprise, and capitalism. I don't need big brother government overseeing every aspect of our lives. I limit this to things like health and well-being. I think that we need some oversight in food, water, and drugs. There needs to be some oversight and standards on what is safe for human consumption.

Governments telling someone that they can or cannot have an abortion is an intrusion into their rights. Telling someone that they cannot have sex with another individual of the same gender is an invasion of their personal and private rights. Telling someone that they must participate in a religious ceremony is a violation into their personal lives. Telling individuals that they cannot own or possess firearms is a violation into their personal rights. Prohibiting individuals from smoking drugs in the privacy of their homes is a violation of their privacy. Telling states that they cannot execution repeat, violent offenders is a violation of the state's soverignity.

Interestingly enough, many Republicans strive to push an anti-abortion agenda, but are pro-gun saying that it is their right to defend themselves. Or push a anti-drug crusade as it is bad for their health. We pick and chose where people are allowed to chose.

I am pro-life, but believe that people can make individual choices. Hopefully the churches, parents, communities will teach morality to their kids. It is not government's role. It is interesting to see people oppose people's right to chose an abortion, chose to be sexually immoral, but want to legislate morality.
My views mirror a great deal the Buckeye Bomber.

[CounterCounterCulture]

How many here are one-issue conservatives?

Tends to be a phrased used by pro-aborts to marginalize those who respect the pro-life views. I'd say virtually all of us are multi-issue conservatives, but hoo-boy, abortion is one the big ones. I'd have a hard time voting for somebody who agreed with me on everything with the exception that they believe in slavery, or lynching blacks, or whatever appalling issue is on the table.

In the primary, I make sure to get someone who respects pro-life. I find that those who support abortion tend to support other far-leftist ideas, especially here in California. In the general election between a Democrat and pro-abort Republican and perhaps a pro-life 3rd party candidate, I have to really weigh the implications of who would get my vote. Sometimes then I'll hold my nose and vote for the Pubbie, sometimes not under extreme circumstances.

If you believe that abortion should go back to states rights, then you should hope for a justice that would overturn Roe v. Wade and not some O'Connor or Souter type.

[GovernmentShrinker]

You sound like a very good conservative to me.

[Buckeye Bomber]

Well, I'm pretty good on the general theory of it all, but when it gets down to specific issues, I turn into a more libertarian type of animal. I'm against the death penalty for many many reasons I'd prefer to avoid in this setting. Mainly, I believe the government is taking a power it doesn't have, and if the Supremes say the government does have that power, they shouldn't have it.

Like Abram, I believe that people should be left alone mostly. I would go one step further than saying people should be able to have sex with people of their own gender if they so desire, to saying they should be allowed to be married. I believe that the more people getting married and commiting themself to one other person the better.

I hate neo-cons. Too comfortable with the idea of big government. Too preachy. And far too sure that they know what is best for the rest of us.

So I'm pretty Conservative, but I also like personal freedoms and privacy, so I'm a Conservative/Libertarian. Think PJ O'Rourke. I like his writings a lot.

[alnick]

Telling someone that they must participate in a religious ceremony is a violation into their personal lives.

If you're talking about school prayer or the word "under God" in the pledge or something along those lines, no one is supposed to be forced to participate. Every American has the right to not utter the words "under God" or utter them, as they choose, when reciting the pledge. If a person doesn't want to say those words, they need only pause for a beat while respecting others' right to say them.

Interestingly enough, many Republicans strive to push an anti-abortion agenda, but are pro-gun saying that it is their right to defend themselves.

You imply that those two positions are somehow inconsistent. There is nothing inconsistent with objecting to murdering innocent children while at the same time owning a gun for self defense against someone who would try to harm you or your family. Oh, and outlawing abortion is not the same thing as legislating morality. Is the fact that it is illegal for someone to murder you in cold blood legislating morality?

[HairOfTheDog]

A year ago I would have told you abortion is a dead issue and will never move. But I think I was wrong and it might be relavent how a candidate feels about it. Still, as long as half the country favors it there will only be baby steps in either direction. But abortion is not a deal breaker for me if their defense, gun control and taxation positions are in line...

[BagCamAddict]

I really looked forward to reading the replies to your thread. I think it is a very good question, and I see it happening all the time in politics - where one candidate is ostracized based on one specific issue (rather than looking at the whole package that the candidate represents).

I thought you phrased your question in a very simple and straightforward manner. You were asking whether or not someone could be considered "Conservative" if they take a non-conservative stance on ONE single issue.

But it was unfortunate that used abortion as the example... because apparently LOTS of people were incapable of answering your actual question because they were too busy trying to debate the abortion issue yet again. What a tired tired irrelevant waste of posts, considering they didn't even answer your actual question.

So I might suggest that you repost your question, but this time, do not name a specific "one issue". Or choose a less "touchy" issue than abortion, if you can think of one! Maybe then people will be able to keep their own personal politics out of it and actually answer your SIMPLE question.

Tired, tired, tired... same old posts, with the same old arguments. Yawn.