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To me, a true conservative is a very simple creature: One who believes in the primacy of the individual. All laws and government actions should be aimed at supporting the individual's self-determined way of life, with the condition that his/her way of life does not infringe on another's.

Instead of government flowing from the top down (Washington dictating to the individual), the power should descend from the individual, to the local government, then state, then federal government.

All the issues we might discuss--guns, speech, etc.--would flow from this basic idea. The government should enable the individual to make his way through life with the least amount of interference (which would include taxing him to "enable" others to pursue THEIR way of life--freedom FROM government interference will do more than government programs to enable one to live an independent life).

A true conservative is not one who is against there being a federal government, or a state or local government, but he is one who wants these structures to do the bare minimum necessary to allow all citizens to pursue happiness.

I could put down a laundry list, but I think a lot of conservatives have forgotten what conservatism truly is. For one thing, it's not about religion.