Not Conservative, Not Liberal, Then What?
If we think of liberals and conservatives as being left and right, we then should think of libertarians and communitarians as top and bottom. In that line of thinking, there should be no more importance to the meaning of top or bottom than there is to left and right. That is, neither top nor bottom is necessarily better by virtue of its name, they are just opposite poles.
They are both worth mentioning because, at times like these when most people are disgusted with Democrats and Republicans, there are other options. Whether they are viable options, is debatable. As political movements, (and put in unfairly simple terms) libertarians have been around a long time and have evolved to an almost no government position. Communitarians are rather a newer development and play the role that socialists once did. Neither is exactly to my liking, but libertarians are much closer to conservatives than they are to Republicans or Democrats.
Where They Stand
Libertarians are aligned rather nicely with conservatives on some issues, but usually with more severity. Where conservatives believe in limiting the power of government, reducing the size of social programs and reducing taxes (and government spending), libertarians believe in practically no government power, no social programs and no taxes. One could say that conservatives are just practical libertarians or that libertarians are conservative who have lost sight of realism. Communitarians tend to not line up with anyone, in the same way socialists and communists did not have a counterpart. Communitarians do exhibit some of the same philosophies that modern day Republicans live by. That's not to say that they agree in any way on any issues, but they both believe in making everyone do it their way. However different their ways may be, they each believe they can use government to impose their respective social positions on our society.
Democrats, to a somewhat lesser degree, also want to impose their beliefs and controls on our society. The Democrat Party's position on such things as affirmative action and gun control are examples of the same controlling attitude that Republicans and communitarians hold strongly with regard to their respective issues. Whatever the specific issues, (think, gun control, abortion, drug laws, privacy, property rights etc.) Republicans, Democrats and communitarians have their respective people control issues and they fight for them as if they are the only truths.
To Whom Do We Turn?
There isn't a party that truly puts individual rights first and has a practical approach to running a government. Let's face it, we are not going to be able to protect our country if our government collects no taxes. We do have to pay for some infrastructure or we won't be able to travel to get necessities, let alone for recreation. There are good reasons to have a government and for that government to have powers. We don't want to leave it up to individuals who regard themselves as just to dispense justice. We do want to protect our borders (that's not a shot at George Bush!). Only a government can reasonably manage that.
So, want to know what kind of government I recommend? I am going to tell you anyway. I recommend a government that follows a constitution just like the Constitution of The United States of America. In fact, I think we should just abide by the Constitution. It really is a pretty good document. Conservatives already know that and want to do that. Republicans, Democrats and some other groups have drifted away from our Constitution and show no respect for it. Oh yes, they talk it up a lot. Democrats argue that we should treat people based on their race and take away everyone's guns, just like is says in the Constitution, right? Republicans argue that we should limit people's rights based on Christian religious beliefs and introduce religion into government, just like it says in the Constitution, right?
As preposterous as it all sounds, it is exactly what is happening. Democrats are winning at controlling peoples' rights to guns and forcing a wide range of quasi-socialistic societal rules on all of us. Republicans are succeeding at limiting peoples' rights based on sexual preference and eliminating privacy in everything from personal mail to medical treatment. Only true conservatives remain in practical middle and aligned with the Constitution.
If we really had a Conservative Party, we would have individual freedom and a modest and controlled government. We wouldn't have a runaway government that is growing and spending at a rate we can never recover from. We would have America back and we would all be living by and respecting its Constitution.
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There is no power a government can have that is more dangerous than its power over individuals. - Jenny Jerrome
