Why I Am A Conservative

1st, let us begin with the dictionary definition of conserve: to preserve from becoming damaged, lost or wasted; to save preserve, or maintain. In politics, a conservative is defined as an individual tending to conserve or maintain established traditions or institutions.

These days let us ask a leading question. Is it worthwhile to conserve or be a conservative? George Santayana, Spanish-American poet and teacher of philosophy at Harvard University, wrote in his book Cause in Widespread Sense: "Those who can't bear in mind the past are condemned to repeat it."

I am a youngster of the Excellent Depression - oldest youngster of a mother set adrift in that financial disaster with Three children. 1 week we lived on a peck of dried peas - morning, noon and evening - which my mother, in Excellent humiliation, obtained from the government surplus food depot.

I mention these painful, private memories so that you will realize I am not unmindful of the hardships of poverty and circumstance, or the role of government in mitigating disaster.

I cast my 1st vote for Franklin Delano Roosevelt - believing then, and nonetheless right now - that government has a responsibility to "prime the pump" in Excellent emergencies.

Sadly, when Democrats realized the vote - acquiring energy of free of charge, social services, they would not return to the requirement of person responsibilities. In 1951, while lunching at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., President Truman and his press secretary came in and took stools at the bar subsequent to our table. Right after sandwich and soup, the president turned and mentioned hello to my host. With this we engaged the president in conversation.

That morning, a headline on the front page of the "Washington Article" was -- "Inflation Hits 3 %." None of us in the group had ever heard of inflation. So I mentioned, "Mr. President, excuse my ignorance, but what is inflation?

Mr. Truman smiled and replied, "Do not apologize. I was asked that similar question at the cabinet meeting this morning. I explained it was such as a hunter stung by a bee -- and here he told a locker-room joke, the gist of which was the hunter's wish for a salve that would get rid of the sting but leave the swelling.

I laughed, but I learned he was deliberately pumping up inflation for political acquire - by running the printing presses overtime at the Bureau of Engraving.

Truman already had confiscated the real money in the Social Security Insurance Fund to enable pay for Globe War II, replacing the insurance reserve with I.O.U s. Therefore, the hedge against old age retirement ceased becoming insurance and became a "trust." Some of you may possibly keep in mind the liberal argument: "There is absolutely nothing to be concerned around. We owe it to ourselves."

I became alarmed, due to the fact Widespread sense told me that Social Security, and even the nation, would go bankrupt if inflation - at 1 %, or whatever - continued indefinitely. That's when I became a conservative.

When Social Security approached its 1st brief-fall in the early sixties, I wrote a column warning around the impending crisis. The quantity of angry response by readers, which includes some close buddies who really should have grasped the details, astonished me. I was referred to as irresponsible for suggesting that Social Security was in difficulty.

Regrettably, the Washington politicians fessed up a year later and raised the employee/employer Social Security taxes for the 1st time. Such increases have occurred periodically just about every simply because. A different is necessary these days, as is Medicare and Medicaid.

The important trouble is that operating-and-saving Americans these days ought to cough up to government - federal, state, and local - at least a third of what they earn. I am a student of history, and I have realized that all prior civilizations have collapsed when roughly 40 % of the fruits of producers go to enable non-producers - government functionaries becoming the largest non-productive shoppers.

We are closer to the edge than our politicians including to admit. In our time, the Soviet Union slipped over the edge. The Communist Manifesto - "to each according to want, from each according to ability" - has a Fantastic, compassionate ring. But socialism often has been a nation-killer, and liberalism is absolutely nothing a lot more than slow-motion socialism.

The United States national debt is 5 and 1/2 trillion cash. Interest on this debt takes the top 35 % of federal taxes. Social services that the borrowed cash supplied has been consumed and forgotten.

If we balanced the federal price range subsequent year, and each and every year forever, we would in no way escape the 35 % overburden on our federal revenue devoid of repudiating the debt, or confiscating your and my savings by drastic devaluation of our cash.

Do not laugh! President Nixon did it overnight in a smaller way. Mexico and Russia did it final year major time. Inflation does it additional slowly, but just as certainly. How substantially did you pay for your final residence or car that 20 years ago price 1-fourth as a lot?

We should move on from balancing the spending budget and begin operating earnestly toward decreasing the national debt. It\'s the economy, stupid.

Right after the economy, the principal difficulties plaguing the nation center about the liberal dissipation of established traditions and institutions.

We have destroyed the loved ones and the work ethic with no-questions-asked welfare, encouragement of out-of-wedlock teen-age pregnancies with free of charge condoms in school and welfare Right after delivery that rewards the disappearance of impregnators We have dumbed down education with the hope of keeping youngsters in school - but, nonetheless, the drop-out rate in inner-city schools is 45 % and unemployment of young, black males is 55 %. A lost generation.

Pornography and gutter language is Widespread on prime- time tv. Teen-age drug addiction is soaring. Street violence is commonplace.

liberals laugh at morality, loved ones values, religious faith, hard work, high educational standards, courtesy, patriotism, chaste sexual conduct, person responsibility, pre-marital abstinence, polite language.

To conserve, 1 has to be smart adequate to know what to preserve and maintain from 10,000 years of civilization, so we Do not preserve repeating grievous errors. Our nation, our culture, our civilization depends on conservatism - either to save what is Fantastic and workable, or to rescue us from anarchy when the nation goes belly up.

I close by recommending the "Serenity Prayer" delivered at the height of the Wonderful Depression - by Reinhold Niebuhr, the renowned American clergyman:

"God grant us the courage to alter items we can, accept the issues we can't, and the wisdom to know the distinction."

September 25, 1996

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God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the 'War on Terror', and the Echoing Press

David Domke, God Prepared? Political Fundamentalism in the White Home, the 'War on Terror', and the Echoing Press. London and Ann Arbor, Ml: Pluto Press, 2004. 240 pp.

The relationship in between politics and media has constantly been a subject for vast researches. Nonetheless the use of religious discourse in addresses and speeches of politicians to back their policies is not a new concern. But what is performed in this book that makes is outstanding and diverse is an analysis of the interconnections amongst all these Three together. Therefore David Domke's book is ideally positioned to cut appropriate into the heart of debates about the modern day developments at the intersection of religion, politics and media inside the US. According to him, the foreign and domestic foreign developments in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had been not only (neo) conservative, but also firmly grounded in a (Christian) religious fundamentalism. Domke argues that the Bush administration has turned a religious worldview into political policy and has produced what Domke calls a 'political fundamentalism', defined as 'an intertwining of conservative religious faith, politics, and strategic communication' (p. 6). The book is also a critique of the Bush administration's disregard for democracy in the months right after the attack.

The introductory chapter of God Prepared? identifies 4 primary characteristics of the Bush administration's communication that have been grounded in a conservative religious worldview: (1) a binary idea of reality (apparent in the constant use of Two constructions: great vs. evil and security vs. peril); (2) an obsession with time and demands for instant action against terrorism(manifest in Two beliefs: that action in the here and now is crucial, and that one's commitment to a particular course of action, if perceived to be God inspired, ought to be of an enduring nature); (3) declarations about the will of god for the united states and the values of freedom and liberty; and finally (4) an intolerance for dissent(apparent in the administration's unified voice in public communication, its appeals for other political actors to act with political unity and its harsh criticisms of dissenters). In every of the chapters that follow, one of these characteristics is defined and discussed in detail, with evidence providing its constant presence in the public communications of the president in between 11 September 2001 and 1 could 2003.

In chapter 2 he examines the presence of Two binaries in the president's discourse and news coverage after September 11- very good versus evil and security versus peril- and argues that these conceptions of reality reflected and contributed to a sense of moral certitude amongst the bush administration that was applied to justify limits on civil liberties and main preemptive military action even though also helping to engender public support for the president and administration's "war on terror".

Chapter 3 delivers evidence of time fixations all through the administration's discourse and news coverage, and argues that they allowed the administration simultaneously to push for instant action on certain "war on terrorism" policies and to justify this wish as a requisite step in a extended-term, God- ordained approach. The implication was clear: to not act rapidly or to not endure in the campaign against terrorism was to threat an additional September 11.

In chapter 4 evidence is provided of how the universal gospel of freedom and liberty, provided by the president and echoed by the press, functioned as a central rationale for the administration's foreign policies, especially in justifying the new preemptive doctrine and the Iraq war.

Chapter five focuses on how the administration's emphasis upon political unity and harsh rebukes of those dissented worked together to encourage support for the administration, and to recommend that anybody who held opposing views was unpatriotic and potentially putting individuals in the United States at threat.

Chapter 6 reflects upon the collection of evidence, in Three central sections. Initial, it argues that the Bush administration provides an instructive case study of how political fundamentalism can gain wide support in the United States. The chapter's second section scrutinizes the role of news media in these processes, with the argument that in a nation-difficult context, commercial mass media are drawn to the discourses of political conservatives, especially those that are religiously grounded. The final section of the chapter explores how cultural leaders could craft a moral discourse that counters the predominance of political fundamentalism, and why it is imperative for U.S. citizens and other people that they do so.

Chapter 7 gives conclusions, focusing on implications of the administration's political fundamentalism for democracy, each in the United States and globally.

In the way the writer brings a rigorous analysis of a wide range of empirical material, David Domke's work is of very good value to study. Even so, to what extent his work can contribute to a greater understanding of the relationship in between religion, politics, and the media is a matter of question. Some scholars might uncover it the role of religion has been exaggerated. Some scholars may well question the way he has analyzed meaning formation and reception in media as it is a subjective matter. Even so, the book very properly clarifies how the actions of the Bush administration and the news media are straight counter to fundamental American democratic ideals and principles. It shows how civil religion is utilized to promote its political objectives and to justify self-interest. So "God Prepared" is a should-read for any person who cherishes American democracy, any person who feels uneasy about the Bush Administration's use of religious pictures, as properly as those who have concerns about the way the press assists Bush advance his agenda. Even so, the potential and necessity for additional discussion on the topic exists that can encourage other scholars.

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