Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Conservative Credo III
Revised: Conservative Credo III May 20, 2009, update: 11 June 2009
Let us reaffirm and extend our beliefs
We Conservatives must look into ourselves to reaffirm our beliefs and our programs for the future. Realistic self-examination is never a pleasant act, but it is absolutely necessary to be able to proceed with the faith and confidence in our cause from here on out.
So what are our beliefs? Within Conservatism there are five main orders: spiritual, social, economic, political, and cultural. A complete conservative blends each of these orders into his belief system. I will give my relatively short version here of these beliefs, which will need further clarification and amplification later on to bring out each of these orders more fully. Within each order we must apply the following credos to the appropriate degree: realism; skepticism; federalism; evolutionism; and capitalism. Here is my listing:
Spiritual
We believe in God and have faith in the essence of His word in the Bible as interpreted by Biblical scholars and men of the cloth. We follow its logical and moral precepts as best we can, especially the Golden Rule. We know that man is fallible. He is capable of great good, but he is also capable of great evil. This fact has not changed significantly in thousands of years. We believe in the infinite value of life from inception onwards, and in its protection from murderers. We also believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage. We further believe that the movement to greater secularism in the nation is wrong, and it must be defeated. We believe in the Protestant work ethic and in pride in our workmanship.
We also believe that men of good character and moral strength, although not believers in God, can be rightly in the fold of Conservatism, if they strongly support the main tenets below.
Social
We believe in self-reliance and individual responsibility and do not believe in government handouts at every hint of a “need” or entitlement. Government must not be the provider that everyone looks to in all cases. There must also be charity, by that name and not by the euphemism of welfare, to care for those who cannot care for themselves.
Our freedoms and liberties depend upon protection by the government of our rights to private property--whether material or intellectual.
We believe that our children must have a full and complete American education, devoid of bias and cant, and that well-formed curricula must be presented to them in the depth and breadth that they deserve. Further, this direction must be carried forward through higher education as well. We abhor the idea of our children being brainwashed by teachers and professors force-feeding our children a liberal ideology.
Political
We believe in the precepts of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and believe in original interpretation of the intent of their words. We believe the words can be improved to reflect the original intent more accurately, especially in the 1st, 2nd, and 16th Amendments. We also believe in the intent of the Constitution, as clarified by the 10th Amendment, to limit the federal government strictly to those functions called out in the Constitution, and that the States have jurisdiction over other functions, or else the people do themselves.
We believe that whoever rules least, rules best. Small but effective governance over the essentials for our security is the right way. The 1,177 existing government boards, committees, agencies, foundations, and commissions must be significantly reduced, along with a simplification and synthesis of rules and regulations that have proliferated to a ridiculous extent. We grant that many of these rules and regulations are actually necessary, but they should be drastically simplified and streamlined. We do not believe in statism, collectivism, socialism, or communism.
This tenet extends to the resurgence of states rights, as opposed to ever-increasing federal government dominance, as is called for in our Constitution. We believe in subsidiarity: that is, placing decisions at the lowest level of governance possible. It is also apparent that federal government may be forced to grow to some extent in some areas because of the growth of our population, but it should be held to a workable percentage of the population.
We believe that the principal duty of government is to provide the security and defense of our nation against all forms of aggression coming from either within or without our sovereign borders. To preserve and protect is the motto. This includes the security of our borders from illegal entry, and the deportation of illegal entrants once found.
To this end, we must have a strong military and a strong internal police force that is given this mission covering land, sea, air and space. We must also recognize the threats we face from fanatics of many types, whether in or out of the country, and be prepared to deal with them effectively wherever necessary, even if it means preemptive action on our part. We believe in the concept of just war.
We believe that experimentation with new government structures, institutions, and customs must be severely constrained, since such experimentation with what has been successful and traditional for over 230 years may ultimately redound to our detriment due to unforeseen negative consequences for our freedoms. There is a well-proven path for changes to our Constitution; any other path must be stopped---in particular, legislation from the bench.
To this end, we believe that the federal government should have no fiscal, management or directive role in the provision of health care beyond Medicare and Medicaid, but it may have a regulatory role to ensure uniform quality of care.
We also believe that the federal government should have no management, or directive role in education, that being the role of States. However, the federal government, through the Congress, may give no-strings-attached grants to States for the purpose of improving state education.
The federal government is currently violating the rights of individuals, in particular, their property rights by a number of means: 1) takings or eminent domain; 2) freezing of accounts without proper cause; and 3) the plans and legislation to force redistribution of wealth. This is a blatant violation of our Constitution. Legal maneuvers by the Supreme Court have allowed the broadening of the eminent domain provision. The Administration has acted to freeze the accounts of online gamblers. We are in serious trouble.
This tenet extends to the arena of international government, where we must not allow our sovereignty to be compromised by the UN or any other organization. Too many of the nations of the world are today far too hostile, and amoral or immoral to permit real democratic worldwide governance. However, it is apparent that we must assume a positive, proactive role in foreign relations in concert with other truly democratic nations. No UN law should be recognized in the US without full debate and passage by the Congress, and signed by the President. UN Laws that violate the Constitution should not be recognized.
We believe that any person or group, any religion, or even nation that vows to overthrow our government or to harm our people has cast themselves out from our civil society and the protection of its laws, as well as the protection of accepted international treaties. We must therefore do what is necessary against these enemies of the state to ensure our nation from harm. America comes first. There can be peace through strength.
We need to elect representatives that will further these objectives.
Economic
We believe in tempering our mixed economy with greater freedoms as we go forward, since the operation of a free market is proven best for our economy. It is necessary, however, to have some minimal regulation to thwart the ever-present human vices of greed and avarice, well-known now to exist in a formerly disguised or hidden manner.
We believe in caring for our environment in a responsible and economic manner, but not in rushing to erect some fantastic approach to mitigate what has been termed Global Warming or Climate Change. We believe that proper scientific investigations must be completed in a timely manner by objective American scientists, and properly peer reviewed, before spending billions of our taxpayer dollars for a chimera. That the current fantasy approach is not accepted science has been demonstrated by over 30,000 qualified scientists, doctors and competent academics around the world signing up in dissent.
We believe in fair and moderate taxation that every citizen must participate in as a percentage of their purchases or consumption, not income. The Fair Tax is the right approach. The idea of progressive taxation and releasing a majority of citizens from their tax obligations, largely to redistribute wealth, is both undemocratic and toxic to both our economy and governance.
We believe in fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, which is not easily initiated now, but we must begin to regain control of our financial house immediately. We must disabuse Congress and the President of the notion that money collected from the taxpayer is their money to spend as they see fit, such as in pork, or earmarks, or special entitlements or "stimulus" that are in reality disguised favorite democratic programs.
Cultural
We believe that government must be color, race, and origin blind, and must ensure equal opportunity for all, while definitively rejecting the concept of equal outcomes for all as being an anathema to democracy. This extends to equality of treatment of all citizens and not to special treatment of some minorities. We believe in assimilation of legal immigrants, for example, and we believe that English must be the official language of the nation. We also believe that our multicultural society must be urged in the direction of a composite American Culture over time, and that protected cultural diversity for its own sake is divisive and dangerous. We do not believe in dual citizenship.
The many small and large customs and traditions that make up our local and national worldview must be preserved, since they represent the institutional memory of many cultural decisions made by our ancestors. It is often difficult to trace the origins of a custom or a tradition and to understand the reasoning behind it. Thus, until such background is understood, and the impact of any changes also understood, we believe that our customs and traditions must be preserved intact, and not be altered or dropped without our full understanding and agreement to the consequences.
Labels: American Culture, Christianity, Citizenship USA, Conservatism
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