A Classical Conservative Speaks!

At one time, I use to be proud to call myself a conservative and a Republican. I considered myself to be a “classical conservative”, one who believes in limited government, free markets, individual liberty, a strong national defense, and firmly believed that the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals, and the placement of the individual in our society above that of the collective wisdom of the government.

The brilliance of classical conservatism is, and still remains, in its simplicity.

However, now that the Native American no longer fits the label, the “classical conservative“ has become the "Vanishing American." I would suggest that what passes for the conservative movement in the state of Nevada, under the umbrella of the Nevada Republican Party, has long way to go before it becomes a champion of conservatism.

Those who call themselves “modern conservatives” or “true conservatives” or “constitutional conservatives” or "Tea Party Conservatives” have little understanding of the basic tenets of classical conservatism, are too ignorant of conservatism's basic foundations, and too dogmatic to the extent that they have intellectually castrated themselves, so that they have become political eunuchs, incapable of critical thought. They continue to scratch their heads and wonder why they have not taken the majority in the Nevada Legislature, or at the national level have not been able to catch the presidency.

These self-proclaimed guardian’s and “patriots” have little in common with those views held by the classical conservative. Collectively, they say that they favor democracy, but favors democracy only up to a certain point, and while they state unequivocally that they favor equality, they are more than willing to measure out equality in small doses as long as their equality is never threatened, and if given the reins of power would use the full force and fury of government to suppress a women's right over her own uterus, the denial of the right to privacy in interpersonal relationships, vitiate the long-held constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state, just to name a few, which betrays and negates the concept of limited government.

As a classical conservative, I believe that my political views, have come to me honestly and unlike the this current strain of “conservatism “within the Nevada Republican Party, I have not allowed my political views to be despoiled by ulterior motives, nor influenced by politicians or talk show hosts, the likes of Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Laura Ingram, and Rush Limbaugh, who allegedly claimed that they are conservatives, but who are truly nothing more than shameful hucksters, who will play at conservative politics, but never become fully engaged in the conservative movement. I have little regard for the Sarah Palin’s or Ted Cruz’s of the world and the parasitic Tea Party movement, and I find them all to be an embarrassment to the state of Nevada and the conservative movement in general.

As a classical conservative, when I look and listen to the aforementioned character puppets, I see an exceedingly consistent summary representation of less than mediocre intellect, a constant theme of inadequate edification forming the incorrect opinions they espouse, a rejection of science, logic and critical thought, and a general ignorance of the principles on which this country was founded.

How and why more intelligent people within the conservative society continue to grant them any credible audience or participate in discussions about them as individuals, or to think of them as great political thinkers, is totally illogical and beyond me. Apparently, they are incapable of thinking for themselves.

At one time, the conservative movement and the Republican Party was a political entity of rational ideas. It is sad to see a political movement self-destruct before my very eyes in its quest for purity and absolute

But,this is what happens when you live in an echo chamber, rife with conspiracy theories,and the love of roving "Patriot Militia's' in support of Cliven Bundy and his ilk.

"It is sometime better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt."

Something, these "white trash conservatives" have never learned, and unfortunately, never will.