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I checked out Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost and How It Can Find Its Way Back by Mickey Edwards today.
A pretty interesting read.
A part I can identify with:
Quote:
Conservatives today sometimes seem to be deliberately attempting to undermine and discredit conservatism and its constitutional values. Many are not content to merely advocate the best behaviors they favor and criticize the lifestyles they oppose...... They are increasingly willing to enforce their preferences by prescribing lifestyles that diverge from their own. A system of government that was designed to protect minorities to conform to the views of the majority. This is not American conservatism, no matter what label the cultural homogenizers may choose to put on it.
Quote:
Any political movement that holds itself up as a champion of liberty betrays its own principles when it dictates the terms of political acceptability. I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, the title of a Broadway show, is an apt description of the attitude of many of today's conservatives have toward the Constitution. They honor-even revere- it for its groundbreaking commitment to the protection of individual rights, yet many are eager to rewrite it with language designed to turn the Constitution on its head, increasing the government's power, limiting liberties, and imposing their own beliefs.
Are there any "Conservatives" here who don't advocate for the government to be in the marriage business (deciding who can and cannot marry, aside from close relatives, children and adults, etc)., are for a woman's right to choose, against a constitutional amendment banning flag burning, etc?
I checked out Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost and How It Can Find Its Way Back by Mickey Edwards today.
A pretty interesting read.
A part I can identify with:
Are there any "Conservatives" here who don't advocate for the government to be in the marriage business (deciding who can and cannot marry, aside from close relatives, children and adults, etc)., are for a woman's right to choose, against a constitutional amendment banning flag burning, etc?
I am against a woman's "right to choose" because abortion is murder. Abortion is no more of a "social issue" than murder is. Murder clearly is one...but unless you think murder should be legal, I don't see how you can argue that abortion should be.
As far as gay marriage, my views on that are explained on some other threads on this forum.
And as far as flag burning, I think it should be legal.
I am against a woman's "right to choose" because abortion is murder. Abortion is no more of a "social issue" than murder is. Murder clearly is one...but unless you think murder should be legal, I don't see how you can argue that abortion should be.
As far as gay marriage, my views on that are explained on some other threads on this forum.
And as far as flag burning, I think it should be legal.
To me abortion isn't murder but we can agree to disagree on that one.
I guess I'll search around for your views on same-sex marriage.
"Abortion is no more of a "social issue" than murder is."
Actually, "murder" is very much a social issue. For some, Catholics come to mind, taking of any human life for whatever reason is a moral/social wrong. Yet, as a society we have a multi-tiered valuation of homicide from pre-meditated to justifiable. Somewhere, at sometime, society decided that taking a life under certain circumstances is socially acceptable.
To me abortion isn't murder but we can agree to disagree on that one.
I guess I'll search around for your views on same-sex marriage.
I'm against it. But I don't support any other type of discrimination against gay people. To me, marriage is between people who can physically/biologically have children together for the (at least implicit) purpose of starting a family.
As far as abortion being murder, I don't think in the first trimester I would call it murder. But even in the second trimester, I think it is.
I should also add that I feel strongly that these need to be STATE issues and not national issues.
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