Why I'm a Conservative, Plus Some Other Thoughts

“If you’re not a liberal at age 20, you have no heart…if you’re not a conservative at age 40, you have no brain”—Winston Churchill


People ask me a lot why I’m a conservative. They say things like, “You’re young, the GOP is for old people”, or things along those lines.

Well, I’ll lay out why now…I’m not defending it, because I strongly feel that, as long as someone has real reasons for their views, they shouldn’t have to defend them.

1.) I grew up in a conservative leaning house. Parents are the earliest influences on a child, and more often than not, this includes politics. Some children embrace their parent’s politics. Imagine all the kids growing up hearing things like, “That damn Clinton, he screwed Monica now he’s screwing us”, or “George Bush is the biggest idiot I’ve ever seen!” It has a strong affect on kids.

I still remember the night of the 1992 Presidential election, watching the returns with my dad. I was pulling so hard for George H.W. Bush. At that time, I was 10 years old, and I didn’t really know why. The same went for Bob Dole in 1996. I was so excited to register to vote when I turned 18. My first election was the Presidential election of 2000, which was memorable for some reason. I stayed up until 7:00 AM watching the back and forth coverage, still not sure who our next president was.

Later that November, I was with my dad in Tallahassee, FL for the Florida State vs. Florida football game and got to witness some of the mayhem up close. It was amazing for me to see all the pundits I had been watching on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC for the past month. The buzz was palpable, as people knew the Florida Supreme Court was close to ruling on the recount. One lasting image in my head…the two young Tallahassee Community College Students, one wearing a shirt that said “Lick Bush” the other wearing a shirt that said “Beat Dick”. I didn’t agree with their politics…but dammit, I loved the First Amendment.

2.) I consider myself a big picture kind of guy. One thing I always stress to people is think about the future. In last year’s election, for my economic and social status, I probably should have voted for Barrack Obama. However, for the good of the country, I knew the choice was John McCain. Liberal and Progressive ideas often seem to be about instant gratification, which is great…but what happens 10, 20, 30 years down the road?

I was not a huge fan of George W. Bush’s second term. I don’t believe he was as bad as most people think, but he could have used improvement, I’m the first person to say that. With the state of the economy, even I, with my very limited grasp of economic principles and policy knew that spending was not the answer. We needed someone who would tighten the belt, not go out and buy a new belt with stimulus money.

As a country, we are at a record deficit, and our national debt is skyrocketing…soon to be raised to $14 trillion dollars. It’s my generation, along with that of my children, and grandkids, that will be saddled with paying that off. That gives you a lot to think about.

3.) I firmly believe Ronald Reagan got it right when he said, “Government is not the solution to our problems…Government is the problem.” I’ve always worked for what I have, and have been lucky to know the right people and make the right connections. But nothing has been handed to me in my life. I think that the government’s role should be to keep the country safe and keep it operational. Sure, national health care seems like a great idea, but not when you look at the staggering costs. The inefficiencies in the government are mind boggling. This needs to be curtailed if we’re ever going to cut down on the debt. I mean seriously…Department of Education never should have even been introduced. The government has no Constitutional power to regulate education. It was the responsibility of the states for 200 years, than Jimmy Carter comes along, and by a margin of 4 votes in the house, gets the Department of Education set up.

4.) We can’t always be everyone’s friend. It’s something that is often hard for liberals and progressives to understand. If some people or countries don’t like us, that’s fine. We need to lookout for ourselves, first and foremost. Was it the right thing to invade Iraq…looking back on it, no. However, hindsight is always 20/20. In my opinion, it would have been irresponsible for Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld to ignore the intelligence that the US, Britain, Greece, and Australia had regarding the WMD’s. All the people that yelled, “Bush Lied, Kids Died”, weren’t privy to the daily, and sometimes hourly security briefings that the President gets. Last time I checked, Cindy Sheehan didn’t have Yankee White clearance.

5.) Because I can. That’s what’s great about America. In theory, no one is persecuted for their political beliefs. While I do find something wrong with people who vote blindly, i.e. African American’s voting for Barrack Obama simply because he’s black, or white’s voting against Obama because he was black. If you have reasons that are legitimate, feel free to voice them. I can back up my opinions with fact, and sometimes, unfortunately, it seems to be getting harder and harder to find others who can do the same, and that goes for both sides of the isle.

Politics will always be a divisive issue in America, but with respect and understanding, along with a little patience, we can have a very effective dialogue on politics. I firmly believe that we should be able to talk about things that are normally taboo…politics, religion, sex, race…in an open and candid manor. It will make us a much better country.