by Bryan Belrad

Created on: May 20, 2008

Conservatives, like Liberals, are always on the wrong side. This is because, like every other extremist group, they both see any given issue in terms of black and white: with us or against us, patriotic or treasonous, good or evil. The one thing Libs and Cons both agree on is that there are only two sides to any issue - and they're both dead wrong.

I am a moderate. I am of those odd fence-jumping, middle of the road folk who, like the majority of Americans, are downright fed up with the bickering, nattering, and perpetual (and childish) either/or false dilemma posed to the people by conventional politics. I hold some liberal views, such as homosexuals should be allowed to marry, and I hold some conservative views, such as government shouldn't try to regulate what citizens do in their personal lives.

That very contrast shows that, while the Left often simply doesn't "get it", the Right is usually so very, very wrong.

The Conservative hallmark is Pride, whether deserved or not, and their deep self-love gives rise to ethnocentric behavior. They tend to adhere to tradition for tradition's sake alone, doing things the way they've always been done for no reason other than the fact that they have always been done that way.

Where Libs often make the mistake of putting other peoples' views and values before their own - to the point of excess - the Cons demonstrate an equal faculty for deliberate ignorance in the opposite direction: they will often put their own values ahead of everyone else's. Both of these are all well and good on an individual level, but are a terrible way to govern a nation that boldly proclaims "Liberty and Justice for all"; either way we choose, somebody gets the short end of the stick. It is literally an "us or them" situation, a false dilemma made real by our lack of viable alternatives.

But it is the Conservative tendency to perceive one's own view in any controversy as automatically correct, often for no other reason than it is one's own, that ultimately leads to the biggest problem with Conservatism: Hypocrisy.

Conservative talker Glenn Beck, of radio and television renown, provides us with the key principle of Conservatism, upon which the group's entire platform is built. By his definition, Conservatism is the belief in the Individual and the ability to make his or her own decisions. It is the ideal that each person should be free to live his or her life as he or she sees fit; to be able to achieve success without penalty, to make personal choices

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>