"Perhaps, but utilitarianism is a slippery slope."
I'm not a utilitarian.
"Conservatives are supposed to be about principles."
One of mine is that Americans owe something to America.
"Conservatives are the ones who should be asking why"
No, conservatives already know the answer. Pretending there isn't one is the province of (wink, wink) libertarians.
"Conservatives are the last to understand what is happening." - Fr. Malachi Martin
One of mine is that Americans owe something to America.
On what truth is this principal based? I thought that rights were endowed by God. And that the founding principals of America were on restricting government.
The Germans owed the Nazi party something and the Russians owed the Soviets something. They sold their principles for a supposed patriotism that had no grounding in true philosophical principals.
But, as I said earlier, Conservatives are simply a different stripe of liberal with a different function. They are the lukewarm water that acclimates the "slowly boiling frog".
Then don't talk like one. If you have a argument that explains why the time and energy of a free person should be at the disposal of the State, I'd like to hear it.