You know, all of them believe ...

You know, ALL of them believe ...

I’m tired of the snarky comments made by people around me who know I’m a conservative. The comments are usually made by someone who knows they know what my positions are on myriad topics. They’re usually couched in general terms “Conservatives think that …” or “I know you won’t like this but…” usually followed by a statement that lets me know instantly that they have no concept of what I, as a moderate conservative (yes, we still exist despite what you’ve heard in the press), thinks. It’s time to get a few things straight, in no particular order.Although Keith Olbermann, Arianna Huffington, and Maureen Dowd would have you believe otherwise, moderate conservatives are alive and well. You simply don’t hear about us because the media is so focused on the Tea Party and the religious right. I know literally hundreds of conservatives and not one belongs to either of those groups. The more extremist factions are a relatively small portion of conservatives and most conservatives wish they would just go away and take MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, and Americans for Democratic Action with them. By the way, Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. He doesn’t call the shots for Republicans any more than Jon Stewart does for the Democrats.Moderate conservatives are not Luddites. We know the Earth is round, that evolution is the way it happened, that space travel is in our future, and religion does not unequivocally trump science. Stem cell research is good and vital, as is any research that will alleviate human suffering.Moderate conservatives don’t care what religion you are as long as you don’t try to force it on them. We believe that the extreme religious left (yes, there is one) is just as whacked out as the extreme religious right. No, the Bible is not the final word. To quote Captain Barbossa out of context, the Bible “is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.” We also believe a lot of those guidelines are worth following. Conversely, moderate conservatives believe that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The meaning is clear and straight forward. It doesn’t say anything about not allowing religious displays in a park or in front of the county courthouse. Neither establishes a religion. We have no official Church of the United States. We do, however, seem to be pretty active lately in advancing atheism, or at the very least agnosticism—which liberals seem to feel is OK to promote. Freedom OF religion does not mean freedom FROM religion, it means just what it says. You get to practice your own particular brand in the way you want, so any religion that wants to put up holiday displays should go ahead and knock themselves out. We all ought to be open-minded enough to look at those displays without feeling our beliefs are threatened. We don’t think gays are deviant, out to corrupt our children, or a sin against God and nature. They’re people who are just as good (or bad) as the rest of us. If two gay people want to take a chance on a lifelong commitment, we say more power to them. Anything that encourages people to take care of each other, be kind to each other, and improves the care of children is a good thing. We believe that all taxpayers are created equal. Businesses, corporations and rich individuals should pay their fair share of taxes but their share should not be punitive because they have more money than we do. Free enterprise works, but a person or corporation should not be punished because they are good at it. These days, $150,000 a year is not rich, it’s well off, but not rich. It is the height idiocy to tax the people(small business owners) who hire new workers to the point that they can’t afford to hire anyone. If we’re going to mess with their tax rates give them a tax incentive for each new hire that is retained for a year or more.Moderate Republicans do not belong to “the party of no.” We belong to the party of “where’s the money coming from?” That’s not obstructionism, its fiscal responsibility. We believe that before you launch into something the going to cost billions, you’d better have a good idea of how it’s going to be paid for other than dumping it on future generations by cranking up the national debt. Before anyone’s hackles get raised, yes, President Bush ran up the debt, nobody disputes that but the continuing money hemorrhage being carried out by President Obama is no better.  Moderate Republicans know that there are legitimate medical reasons for an abortion to be performed. If you need one you should be able to get one and your health insurance should cover it. We also know that birth control is not one of those reasons. We have no idea exactly when life begins but neither do pro-choice advocates. Until we can answer that question, we think it’s better to err on the side of caution.I know that this won’t end the comments. Most people, myself included, are very comfortable within the fortress of their personal opinion. All I can hope is that maybe I can make a person here or there sit back and think about whether what they spout about other people think is really true and whether or not he or she really wants to push others farther away, convince them that they can’t be kind or caring if they are conservative or fiscally responsible if they are liberal. Maybe if we could stop pushing people away from each other, out toward extreme positions, we could learn to work together, find the best solutions that incorporate room for everyone to breathe and start to move forward in a positive way. 

There goes the neighborhood

In the two days since the mid-term elections, Republicans have been inundated with “there goes the neighborhood” messages, but much less civilly expressed.  I’ve had to endure them from friends on FaceBook, e-mail, forums, blogs and in person. Most center around statements that we’re returning to the dark ages and that back alley abortions are just around the corner. Two posts suggested that it’s not Wisconsin but Governor elect Scott Walkers wife who should be open for business. Others stated that the lunatics are taking over the asylum, America is done for, that the homophobic, racist, extremist, ignorant, redneck, religious nuts have seized control … you get the gist.

How did we come to this? How have we gotten to the point where personal attack and vitriolic generalizations have replaced reasoned discourse?

Let me say before I go any further that Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats. I have no illusions that only liberals are capable of being mean spirited.  I also don’t give a damn who started it, the fact that it’s happening is where my concern lies.

Respectful debate is out there. It just doesn’t get press coverage. Democrats protesting at the Republican convention and Republicans hanging Obama effigies at Tea Party rallies are much more dramatic than two groups sitting down to hash out a compromise. The sad thing is that if bad behavior is all you see or hear about, it’s human nature to think that that is the way a person should act.

The first thing that happened after the election was each side declaring that if gridlock happened the other side will be to blame. I propose a shift in attitude. Let’s try declaring that if compromise is reached, it’s our side that will be responsible. That declaration automatically assumes consensus instead of contention. What’s to lose?

Hello and welcome

Contrary to what many people think, not all conservatives are racist homophobes who clean their guns while having the Bible read aloud by one of their militia buddies. The vast majority are reasonable folks. We believe that anyone that wants to get married should be able to, that those that genuinely need help should get it, that government is too big ,too wasteful, and too out of touch, and that there’s plenty of room for everybody and their opinions.

We used to be called the Silent Majority and silent we still are but for different reasons. If we express ourselves at work, we could jeopardize our jobs or lose customers. If we express what we think at parties we run the risk of losing friends. If we express ourselves at a public forum we will be automatically branded as reactionary, extremist, racist, homophobic, fundamentalist, redneck, dim-witted, Nazi … You get the picture.  The best we can hope for if we say what we genuinely believe is that we will be dismissed as a nut case. We have placed ourselves under a voluntary gag order. I have to put up with op-ed pieces and Facebook posts on a daily basis that attack me and my beliefs but I dare not respond.

Given choice, I would gladly put my name and picture on this blog (hopefully I can in the not too distant future) but given the intolerance of conservatism that dominates discourse these days, I must, for the time being, remain anonymous. That doesn’t mean that I must remain silent.

Conservatives like me run into other dilemmas that plague us daily. We do not suffer fools easily. We chafe at hypocrisy. Importantly, we don’t care which party offends.   We wish Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck would shut up right along with Jon Stewart and Bill Maher.  We think the extreme religious left is just as whacked out as the extreme religious right.

This isn’t to say that we’re middle-of-the-roaders or fence-sitters. Our conservative values and beliefs are intact and fully operational.  We just don’t ascribe to the absolutes with which so many non-conservatives would saddle us. 

Which brings me to this blog. When Rush Limbaugh first started out (before he went off the deep end) his popularity soared because he said what the majority of conservatives wanted say but couldn’t. His comments rang with forethought and common sense. Then he discovered that there was more market share in expressing extremist views because liberals would tune in to get fodder for their right-wing extremist diatribes, ”See, this is what conservatives think!”

Only it’s not. Conservatives are laughing at Limbaugh as well, not because he’s a right-wing wacko but because liberals actually believe what he’s saying.  It’s a bittersweet joke and liberals don’t get the punch line. Unfortunately the punch line is delivered at the expense of those of us, most of us, who carry a more moderate view of what it means to be conservative.

My intent is to pick up where Limbaugh started. There is no voice for the average conservative in the media. The media has no market for it. Conservatives with reasonable views don’t sell ads on the five o’clock news. We have been painted by Liberals and the media as the “ party of no” and reactionary nut jobs waving flags at pro-life rallies. Hopefully one small voice in the wilderness can help change that. Welcome to The Unknown Conservative.