Me? A Conservative?

Thanks, Liz. Glad to see that you're still out there.

And I should point out that I don't always agree with Sullivan, so I was surprised to find that paragraph and then to read it and say to myself "Yeah, I agree with most of that, too."

I like tax cuts but don't think now is the time to repeal the estate tax (although I think it should be repealed eventually - once we pay off all this debt that Dubya has helped create). I definitely oppose laws that give gays and minorities more protections or that gives crimes against them stiffer penalties than would the same crime committed on heterosexuals or caucasians. I was disgusted that Rove sent the "Swiftboat" gang to attack a war hero, particularly given the reverence with which this administration pretends to have for the war and our brave people fighting it. I disagree with abortion but believe that a compromise can be made that makes first-trimester abortions a legal option as long as second and third trimester abortions are banned. I support gay marriage, but ultimately believe that states should have the say in the end (although to be honest, I wouldn't be totally surprised if the Supreme Court ended up deciding this one from a Civil Rights stance). As someone who lived on Welfare for almost fifteen years, I believe it to be a fundamentally flawed and inept system that keeps the poor down rather than helps them get themselves out of poverty. I liked John Roberts and while I didn't think Alito did as good a job as Roberts did in the interview, I believe that Democrats behaved horribly during the hearings - namely asking him to state his personal opinions in order to get the job - which he won't be allowed to ever use in that job, since 1. he'll have to find LEGAL reasons to defend his decisions and 2. absolutely nothing in his (or Roberts') judicial past leads me to believe that either man was an 'activist' jurist. And I believe that religion has taken a beating in the past six years - in large part due to the Christian Right's insistence on shoving it down everyone's throats and the extreme left in convincing liberals that a separation of Church and State somehow means an Atheist State, which it doesn't.

So, yeah, I guess so. I always considered myself much more moderate, really.

Easy there! I'm not ready to join any political parties. I still have too much distrust for politicians to root solely for any one group. But thanks for the offer. Actually, I'd just as soon see the Republican party numbers dwindle given that George W. Bush is about as much of a conservative as you are, in my opinion. And at the same time, I'd very much like to see more moderate voices in the Democratic party.

I still vote for plenty of Democrats where I think that they're the better choice. I just think that I was surprised that I agreed with the list of things above that Sullivan listed as 'Conservative' values. I guarantee that I have some fairly liberal opinions on some topics, too.

I blame it on the children.

Well, I didn't mean it as any 'coming out' party, per se. It's just that I have been rather gunshy about labeling myself as Conservative, mostly because for the past six years "conservative" has been associated with Dubya and his crew. And my own political interest in those years has skyrocketed - partly because of the more highly political climate we've endured since 9/11 and partly due to my age and life changes (marriage, kids, white-collar job, etc.)

For a short time in Bloomington I was very interested in Libertarianism and even had an application for the Indiana Libertarian Party filled out but never submitted it. I quickly fell out of interest with it because it just seemed too close to Anarchism to me, which I don't agree with. Like Ned said, I'm not anti-Governement, I'm just not interested in continuing to consolidate power in the State. I have definitely had (and continue to have) liberal opinions on a lot of issues, but not most. And some of this liberalism might be due largely to the influences I had when I was younger - I know that I've spent a lot more time around Democrats than Republicans.

And in these past few years, I've really thought a lot more about how I feel about politics individually, rather than adopting the going stance of a party that I thought I should be identifying with. And in doing so, I've found sound cases in opposition to things that I really thought I had figured out.

Minoring in Philosophy at IU was profound for me, too. Taking courses tempered by professors required me to argue points from more than one perspective - something I had done little of on my own in the past and nothing all too comfortable I might add. I found that I often shot from the hip when it came to stuff when I was younger. I was learning more about philosophical discipline, which led me to some soul-searching where I found myself lacking sound debate skills. I found that I was often a.) seriously flawed in my application of logic or b.) that preconceptions I had were based mostly on my feelings toward perceived fairness rather than on facts about how policies play out in our world.

One thing that hasn't changed has been my trust in the government. I've never trusted the Federal government and believe that large systems hemorrage due to their size - and the money alone that's wasted is nearly enough to render the whole damn thing obsolete for me. You can blame administrations (which are temporary) only up to a point, I think, before you begin to realize that the size of the machine is what's leading to opportunities for corruption and waste. The closer people are to their own governance the better it is for them (and more democratic) than having some group of asshats in Washington, DC dictating what happens in Everytown, USA. What interest do they have in mind? The same as everyone else - their own. I prefer Grassroots/local community governance, frankly. So that's a generally accepted Conservative value - less Big Government.

Making more money has also contributed to my political interest. I pay a lot more attention to how tax money is redistributed now that I make more and pay more. As my tax burden climbs ever higher (both percentage-wise as I earn more and on the whole as taxes keep increasing) I resent the scandalous waste that I see all around me. I certainly don't mind paying more than people who make less money, but I hate when I see those dollars being squandered. So I appreciate it when Mitch Daniels cuts the fat at the BMV and goes after tax evaders and then later gives that reclaimed money to schools to repay their debts. Fiscal responsbility isn't just a conservative value, but if we're to believe the commonly held platforms of the two parties, it apparently is. Although plenty of Democrats are fiscally responsible, they just have different ideas about how to collect and redistribute that money - namely to simply tax the rich and give it to the poor. I happen to disagree with this "Robin Hood" approach.

I'd say that getting older, having children, and just old-fashioned soul-searching has led to me change and grow. Some have been toward what would be considered more liberal ideals but a lot of them have been more conservative ones. I still consider myself a Conservative Democrat, so long as it's understood that I don't tow the line for all Democratic values.

The post was a quick reflection of how in the past year or so I've found myself more to the Right than I would've expected had I been asked back in 2000.

I'm not a Religious Conservative and not completely a Social Conservative. For the most part, I'm a Fiscal Conservative who shares a few social policy opinions with Conservatives (such as abortion and affirmative action). I believe that Welfare aims to do well, but fails and needs to find ways to empower poor people rather than pander to them with handouts. I think that affirmative action and hate crime legislation promote the concept that minority groups deserve different protections than everyone else (which they already have). While I agree that they're often disproportionately affected by some specific crimes, I think that murder is murder and motive is only relevant to the degree of murder that you're charged with. And I'd rather not have the State imposing artificial limits or quotas in hiring minorities because I believe that social pressure is a better way to affect change - not through law enforcement unless absolutely necessary, which I don't think it is anymore.

What? And start looking like that neo-con lapdog Tucker Carlson? No way, my friend.

You are a racist, sexist, conservative bastard. I would stab your heart but it is now impenetrable. asshole.