Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Litmus tests appear to be continuing

Many decry so-called social “litmus tests” for citizens to be included in the conservative movement. So do I. If you sign up to the core principles of conservatism, and support conservative politicians, that is all anyone should require.

The two litmus tests -–anti-abortion, and anti-gay marriage---however, are derived from religious tenets stated in or derived from the Bible, which many Christians sign up to and include in their conservatism. They do tend to resent non-believers or those who choose to ignore the tenets of the church or the Bible, despite their other tenets of good will to all men and the Golden Rule.

Obviously, for the 2% to 10% of the population that do not believe in Christ or a God, such tenets are onerous and wrong-headed, and it sets them apart from their religious Christian brethren, sometimes very vocally and nastily. So we have a fundamental religious belief based conflict that is rather difficult for some to pass over simply for the sake of the conservative movement.

When the federal government steps in and passes laws that enforce tenets that are diametrically opposed to the religious tenets of many Christians (RvW, for instance), some Christians see that as blasphemy and a direct challenge to their belief system. Litmus testing is one result; you are either with them, or against them, and they will not compromise their religious beliefs. Hence, we find that provisions in many states have been passed by large majorities that codify into law anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage statutes. Thus we have a state versus federal law conflict as well, where the federal position does not seem to be at all reflective of the majority will.

Conservatives must find the right answers to such conflicts, and others of similar gravity, if inclusiveness is to be achieved for the movement. If this was easy to solve, it would have been done long ago.

Perhaps we need to redefine what inclusiveness really means. What exactly are the minimum tenets of conservatism one must believe in to be accorded full status? What tenets of religion must you give up or sublimate in order to be inclusive? What kind of movement or party is it that in effect coerces its members to give up or sublimate some of their closely held religious beliefs in order to grow the membership? How do you secularize the current conservative movement? Is that a wise thing to try?

I am not encouraged that the conservative movement can resolve these conflicts in the few years before further elections take place.

Labels: Abortion, Conservatism, Gay Rights, Government, Home Security

Where did my opinion of Islam originate?

After reading blog posts on “expertise” and the public, I had to ask myself just how my opinion about the invasion of Iraq got set in stone. I would cite a number of things:

1. The 50-year war between Israel versus Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and by indirection, Iran. The utter brutality of the Islamic states and their dominant organizations against Israel must be remembered, despite many attempts to bring peace to the area in brokered deals that were sabotaged by the Islamics. This led me to pick up a Koran, and to explore the Haddith and fatwas.

2. The conclusions from my readings about Islam clearly told me that Islamic fascism is a deadly enemy of the US, and that all Muslims are committed to jihad against us if called upon to do so.

3. The daily news that reported atrocities of ever-increasing horror conducted by Muslims against their enemies, culminating in many direct attacks on US installations and troops, which I won’t mention in detail here as they are well-known.

4. The obvious after-the-fact rejection of US support to Muslims in a number of instances, such as Kuwait and Kosovo, which was largely ignored in the Islamic world.

5. The bribery we have participated in for years to keep Egypt relatively passive.

6. The two-faced Saudi Arabia policies that gave us low gas prices while the Saudis built a worldwide net of Muslim fanatics against us.

7. The reports of imams from Saudi Arabia, throughout the 10,000 US mosques, that preach hatred of the US and jihad against unbelievers in our nation---me, in other words. And, the fact that there are almost 6 million Muslims in the US already!

8. The experiences I had living for 13 years in Europe watching the guest-workers building up to a large percentage of the population, and beginning to demand special laws to accommodate their beliefs--Sharia.

9. 9/11.

By these and many other events and writings about Islam, notably Churchill, I concluded that we faced a serious and insidious challenge from Islam, or at least by a significant percentage of the one and a half billion Muslims in the world. If there are only 10% of the Muslims that are willing to attack the West by any means available, we face an army of 100 million fanatics! Even if we are talking about 5%, it is still an army of 50 million, which is over 50 times the army of the US. So pick only 1%, a number that many can accept. That is still one million fanatics to be dealt with. Our response to this challenge had been weak and ineffective, to be kind to the so-called leaders of that era. Fact is, we don't know how many fanatics we face!

After 9/11, there was left only the questions in my mind of where to strike this many-headed, very large, poisonous snake first, and then subsequently, and how far we needed to go to kill the snake or at the very least, to render the 1% to 10% of it relatively harmless.

No one has answered my questions adequately.

Labels: Home Security, Islam, Muslims, Terrorism, The Threat

An Un-gated Townhouse Neighborhood

This community is in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, and it prides itself on its quality of living and the well-appointed homes that line the streets. Most of the homes are in the upscale brackets, from $600 thousand to over $1 million. They are targets for break-ins and opportunistic thieves that find an open back door.

Of the thousand or so homes in the area, at least a third are owned by those who do not keep guns, another third are multi-floor rental units that turn over rapidly, and the remaining third are defensive-minded owners who are well armed, the houses are alarmed, and they have dogs. There used to be a Neighborhood Watch patrol that operated from about 11 pm until 3 am, the period of greatest threat for robbery and assault. The Watch died a natural death as the statistics for crime in the area went down considerably over 2003-2006, from over 3,000 police reports in 03, to just under 1,000 reports in 06. (No one seems to notice that this still amounts to a crime per household per year!)

Last Saturday, two black men jumped out of their car, beat up two students of a group of three, robbed them, and sped away. This was right in front of my home. The students had to be hospitalized for brain injuries. Many years ago, my Mother was mugged in front of the house. My cars have been stolen twice in the seven years we have lived here. The window glass was maliciously broken out several times in my wife’s car. Some nut had it in for SUVs and walked down the street with a hammer breaking glass as he went. We dare not leave anything of value on the seat of our car; that is an invitation for thieves to break in. We have had our share of rapes, a murder, and break-ins on our block.

A few of us have increased our alarm capabilities, and purchased weapons to defend our families and homes from intruders. The problem is, weapons are useless when you are inside your home and are witnessing a crime on the street. You have no right to open fire on robbers that are not on your property and are not threatening you directly. So you call 911, and the expected happens. The police arrive 12 to 15 minutes later, after the criminals have left the scene. (In one case, however, they did arrive in force within a few minutes, and that was when my wife accidentally set off a vacationing neighbor’s alarm when she went to feed the cat at three in the afternoon!)

Our ground floor windows have attractive iron grillwork covering them. All of our windows have storms installed, and alarm sensors as well. Our main doors are double dead-bolted steel to prevent their being kicked down too rapidly for us to react. We have all-night lighting for the front and back of the house, and motion detectors to warn of intruders in the back yard, and inside the house too. So we live in a city in a fortress of sorts, with weapons at hand wherever we are, and two very loud yapping dogs to give the alarm. We do not stay out late at night without setting up additional lighting for the walk to our gate.

All of these steps are merely prudent, as far as I am concerned, as is the loaded 9mm under my pillow. You ask me to trust my fellow man, and I will, but I will also verify that he is trustworthy, prevent him from “accidentally” coming into my home, and take appropriate action if he does.

Labels: Home Security