I am a conservative. What I thought conservatism represented was an allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, states’ rights, limited government, a strong defense, free market capitalism, low taxes, and traditional American values. These days, I find myself more disenchanted with conservatives (not just Congressmen, but regular blog-surfing Americans) than I ever have before.
It seems like establishment Republicans, including regular people, have forgotten what conservatism is. They’ve forgotten what the U.S. Constitution says, except when it will fit within the conservative construct of their own minds. I call this principle “constitutional on demand” syndrome. For example, recently the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a legal American resident dubbed an enemy combatant by the executive could not be detained indefinitely without being charged and would be afforded habeas corpus protections. This ruling should make sense to conservatives. Under the 14th amendment, those who are citizens of the United States or within the jurisdiction of the United States are afforded due process of law:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
You would think conservatives would applaud this decision as it upholds the constitutional rights of a legal United States resident. Don’t get me wrong - I am NOT condoning this man’s alleged personal attempt to aid and further terrorist activities, but this man was a United States resident, and as such, he should be awarded constitutional rights and protections.
I communicated this very thought to what I thought were like-minded conservatives and this is what I got:
Your statement of “terrorist or not” is ridiculous. You would make the Constitution a suicide pact. You think it is good to protect foreign enemy combatants that do not even fight against us under the flag of another government but just simply get in under the guise of our pathetic immigration law and seek to destroy us.
You feel good because you think you are protecting some high and mighty principle of freedom in theory but you do not care one iota about protecting that principle of freedom in reality.
I believe that the People and the President that they have elected have a say on this issue. It is not the principle that you seem to think that it is. I do not accept giving foreign terrorist combatants the rights of our citizens.
The fellow poster later apologized for saying that I didn’t care for one iota about protecting freedom because I told him I had gladly served in Iraq, but that’s besides the point.
My point in the above example is that establishment Republicans and conservatives are so worried about security that they are willing to throw constitutional protections in the toilet in order to defend the very freedoms enshrined within it! I just don’t get it. I used to think that Republicans/conservatives and Democrats/liberals were distinctly different. I don’t think that anymore. Both political parties or factions of the populace want bigger government, but in different areas. Democrats want big government to turn this country into a socialist state and to increase government dependence. Republicans want big government for the sake of security, at the expense of our liberty. Both scenarios are equally as damaging to our republic and our way of life as Americans.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I think the biggest problem with “conservatives” is a general lack of respect for nature and physical limits, i.e. limits to economic growth, which is now mostly driven by overpopulation. They seem fine with endless crowding of the land and destruction of nature, as long as the crowds are white.
Too many of them are selfish pushers of growthism and consumption, treating nature like a bottomless pit of extraction and waste. This view is typically driven by a religious angle on Man’s place in the world vs. scientific evidence.
Some context for the above points: World annual population growth is currently about 77 MILLION (net gain), with 3 MILLION more people in America each year via immigration and native births. This is what’s driving the mindless consumption we “need” to “grow the economy.”