Why I Am a Conservative

During the past few days, I've taken some time to take inventory inside my own bubble and to get rid of some of the clutter. In so doing, I've found a few cherished relics that I can't seem to part with. Here are a few:

I found that I cannot toss the rule of law or honor for the Constitution. Unlike the tsking talking heads on TV, I believe we are capable of prosecuting our own war criminals and torturers, just as we did those from Japan and Germany after World War II. Whether we are willing to do so will determine the fate of the rule of law and the Republic.

I found that I have this old-fashioned belief that I cannot put in the garbage about citizens having choices about how their public institutions are run, even if it is a messy process. We are doing our children no favors by teaching them to choose autocrats and oligarchs and corporations to relieve them from their democratic responsibilities, all in the name of economic efficiency and higher test scores and beating out the Chinese in their rush toward the moral cliff.

I found that I cannot shake this belief in school as a place where we should nurture intellectual, emotional, and ethical growth, rather than a place to train unengaged drones to do jobs they hate and keep their mouths shut about their own abuse. If this is what school is to be, we need to make sure children don't go there.

I found that I still share Paul Tillich's view that religion reflects our ultimate concern, and from what I see, I am worried. There is hope, yes, but dire circumstance has not yet translated that hope into concerted action. And there are way too many death worshippers calling for Armageddon to make that necessary step a likely outcome at this time. That is why all efforts must be redoubled. I found that I cannot believe otherwise--there is too much to preserve, too much we cannot let go of that makes us human.