The delusions of the new conservatives

A recent article in American Thinker, a very conservative blog, almost made me laugh out loud. To prove their point that America is one step away from destroying themselves as usual they point to a quote by Rush Limbaugh who is complaining that "America as founded is slipping away daily." He's kidding right? That America is long gone and for the better. Keep in mind the vote was generally limited to white male landowners when the country was founded. Laws of the time permitted child labor in modern factories (which didn't exist yet), blacks to be slaved, women forced to obey their man. I could go on, but you get my drift. And though I lean more conservative these days, at least on economical and freedom issues, I don't vote Republican because I find that party to be too far away from my inner core.

The conservatives of today are not those I could never wrap my arms around. I find they have been hijacked by a backwards looking people who refuse to evolve into what should be a robust 21st century movement. Why aren't they leading the charge on over government involvement in everyday lives? Why are they not working to educate anti-gun citizens on what gun ownership means and how gun safety and care by manufacturers and owners can go a long way to resolving illegal guns (not all the way of course, but you need to start somewhere)? Why aren't they pointing out the slippery slope that all these feel good laws take away our freedoms while admitting that some are good for us (clean water and clean air are kind of nice, higher gas mileage cars is also a nice way for us to tell OPEC where to go once we are free of them)? Instead they focus on abortion, Jesus and other issues that were settled over a half century ago. You can be conservative and still move forward with the times.

Perhaps it is because I am not Christian and do not care if gays want to marry or am appalled that my children, already tempted by all the commercial excitement of Christmas, would be forced to pray to Jesus. Maybe it is because I don't look at a book written 2,000 years ago and was probably the best knowledge of the day, written as stories for a simpler people to understand, to take precedence over what science has discovered over the centuries.

Out of touch

I have to laugh at how out of touch the GOP still seems. The only reason I don't is because I realize how bad this is for the country. We are headed towards a one party system and that is good for non one.

The GOP thinks all their problems with the younger generation will go away with just better marketing. Are they for real? I have to wonder what they are thinking if the following quote is the root to solving their identity crisis: "Fortunately, our ideas are already grounded in concepts that appeal across generations: the notion of a free market, where effort is connected with reward and equality is discussed in terms of opportunity, not outcome." I don't necessarily disagree with that last statement, but they don't put their money where there mouth is. How about applying those ideas so our children can get an affordable education that will allow them to use their skills to achieve the available opportunities and rewards GOP? [sound of crickets]

How many times has the GOP been behind cutting spending of education over the decades? They see the rich getting richer and everybody else left behind as the 1% has pulled up the ladder. Sure some can jump and still catch that ladder but fewer and fewer are able to.

In any event, the GOP is doomed to dwindle to nothingness as long as they allow the religious right to control their policies. The young see the GOP's hypocrisy over small government  -- no government involvement unless it concerns what consenting adults are doing in their beds. Most young people don't want to be dictated by a religious morality that they increasingly see as behind the times, especially when you allow political leaders to ignore science etc because a book written a few thousand years ago, that was probably based on the best knowledge of the day, says something else. They don't care what God says about gays and who can marry who.They are tired of leaders who deny and mock modern science and ideals because it doesn't match the leaders' out of date ideological religious teachings

They are concerned about what climate change will mean to them and their children (long after most of us dead). They worry about the increasing costs of health care and how it still seems that the main beneficiaries of Obamacare are private insurance companies and not the People because the GOP refused to allow the government and its economic might strike a better deal for the People.

The young have seen the enemy GOP and it is you. Your small government ideals are fine, but they are not absolute. Yes, there is a danger of government getting too big, but no government is not the solution when the scars of a deregulated financial community is still fresh in our psyche. When you wake up to all this you will have mine and the youth vote.