[He Rides A White Horse]

Last week, after I wrote my column on conservativism, I received a considerable amount of mail telling me about the things that I neglected to say. It seemed a common consensus among the Republicans that I spoke too little about specific things like abortion, gun control, and free speech; and too much about general, basic beliefs.

I thought about these comments a lot, and I considered doing a column that addressed these specific issues each in turn – but then I realized that there is one basic belief that underscores and supports conservative beliefs, including all these. As a matter of fact, it is an excellent summation of conservativism.

Conservative people have a moral compass that they, whether they live by it or not, acknowledge. They recognize and believe that all social questions, all government issues, can be traced back to a question of private morality. Conservatives have a strong belief that societies that are governed by people who are in turn governed by a strong moral compass are, in fact, better societies. They believe that a good government, a legitimate government, is one that is based on the conservative principles of justice, honesty, and honor.

Which is it, Miss Crawford.............?.......

[Cathryn Crawford]

Two different arguments. In my abortion column, I argued that using morality to argue their position to people on a different side (such as liberal friends, pro-abortion colleauges, etc) would not work because these people are not guided by the same moral compass that prolife people have.

In my conservativism column I argued that conservatives have a moral compass.

Therefore, I'm making the same argument in both columns.

You won't get anywhere trying to turn my words against me. Taking my words out of the context of their arguments won't work, either.