I threw together some thoughts on why I became a conservative and sent it to Pop and Politics, a liberal group that’s really interested in what us conservatives think. (I attempted something similar here. I’ll get it together one day.) It’s not my best, but I tried to organize it in a reasonably cohorent way:
Despite America’s ugly history of the enslavement of my ancestors, I love this country and marvel at the blessing of being born here. I appreciate every day the freedom I once took for granted. While I think America’s culture is on the decline, our form of government, rooted in individual rights, is still the best in the world.Like many of my black peers, I grew up believing conservatives were rich white people trying to take away our “civil rights” and send us to the back of the bus — which wasn’t consistent with reality, of course. I wasn’t oppressed and neither was anyone I knew. I didn’t have to walk through “Colored Only” entrances and wasn’t otherwise prevented from doing what I chose to do.
I was a middle-class kid who came of age in the 1980s when affirmative action was in full bloom. I felt deserving of the extra points and consideration I got just for being black. My parents, who grew up under legal segregation, weren’t so fortunate — or so I used to believe. I was angry and thought my indignation was righteous. The indignation led to a sense of entitlement, and I assumed whites owed me something. I was angry about slavery, residual racism and the sense of superiority I perceived about them.
For some reason the editor turned my last paragraph into the next-to-last paragraph, so it seems like the phrase “such rhetoric” in the last paragraph is referring to “biblical values” in the preceding one. Get it? It doesn’t matter. You know what I mean. (Update: The passage has been edited for clarity.)
Liberals will hate it; conservatives will like/love it. Read the rest if you dare. 
Addendum: If you started out liberal/libertarian/apathetic/other, what caused your conservative conversion?
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Nice post LB. That sums it up for me too.
Yeah, that last paragraph seems out of place. I’d ask them to let you either reword the last paragraph, or move it to somewhere where it makes more sense.
I came to conservatism in a different path (being a white kid who grew up in affluent areas will do that). It probably started in high school, when I did researching on “psychic phenomena” and came across the Amazing Randi. I had really been into ESP stuff, and then I realized it was all a trick. After that, I developed a rather healthy skepticism, and started looking for results, not rhetoric. I haven’t seen much in the way of good results from what’s currently called liberal ideas. One thing that absolutely sticks in my craw is no-fault divorce laws. And don’t get me started on the state of public education, especially in teaching the basics of reading and math.
I wouldn’t say these are necessarily liberal/conservative divides, but since the liberals decided to hitch their wagons to various groups like those wanting total sexual license and little responsibility for their families, and teachers unions who have decided that actual educational outcomes don’t matter, by default the conservatives have taken the higher ground. It is interesting to me that the “liberal” side used to be far more about individual responsibility to the community, but now it seems the only responsibility seen is to cough up money for taxes.
La Shawn, I ‘dared’ to read the whole thing and feel rewarded for taking a chance. Nice work as usual.
It didn’t hurt to have Hadji William’s “Whose Eyes”
follow yours, to help make your point. It seemed to provide the contrast in views between conservatives and liberals you were talking about, i.e., is it your fault or America’s you’re not doing as well as another. As we can see, the view one chooses to take extends to their whole world view.
PS: It would seem you would have the opportunity to approve any changes made to your writing text. Else, the meaning can become distorted when words are taken ‘out of their context’. Not a freedom to give up lightly.
Re: Addendum
Economics class enlightened me to the power of the market. Law school the power of the Constitution. I’d say those two things pretty clearly shaped my view of the world today.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X really jump started my interest in ‘race matters’, (along with a nod to the PBS mini-series “Eyes on the Prize”), but my economic training caused me to reject the socialist leanings of groups like the ‘Panthers.’
Honestly though, I was 12 when I first started calling myself a Republican, thanks to Alex P. Keaton. Weird how some things start.
At one time I was all over the board depending on the issue. When I came to a personal relationship with my savior, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, I became solidified as a conservative.
I started out a bleeding heart, commie, pinko, tree-hugging liberal. What changed me? 14 years of working with urban crime problems, and in particular, the last 5 years of working around the country in different urban areas, when I realized that no government program could EVER take the place of caring, concerned, ethical, moral parents who passed on pro-social values to their children.
As government continues to intrude into the parental role, governmental success continues to diminish, and governmental expense continues to take a toll on families that are trying to raise their children properly.
La Shawn:
Born in 1943, I voted the first time for Barry Goldwater in 64 – after all, he said he would nuke the Vietcong – a perfectly well thought out solution. After all, a nuke would have caused less damage than the bombing later on.
But as a resident in Anesthesiology in Boston, I soon learned the error of my ways. People like John Kerry convinced me, and others, of the evils of the military. I voted for George McGovern and Ted Kennedy in 1972 (please please – forgive me). And I considered Flag-wavers as “overly patriotic”.
I didn’t vote again until 1996. I was apolitical. I thought Nixon was a crook, Gerald Ford was stupud, and that Jimmy Carter was warm and fuzzy but stupid. I believed George H W Bush did the right thing in Kuwait, despite the bleatings of the peacenicks. The Flag again became honorable. And I was just stunned when this jerk from Arkansas beat a sitting President who a few months before was a war hero. I just waited 4 years for common sense to prevail. I voted for Bob Dole, and was just stunned that Americans were so stupid to re-elect another crook – but they did.
Clinton’s re-election was the “eye opener’ that convinced me that I should learn more about politics – so that I would know enough not only for myself, but to convince even a few Dems that they were taking the wrong path.
At present, I am a hard line conservative – I believe that great damage has been done to “the poor” by handouts etc.. And the only cure is personal responsibility and hard work -something the Dems simply don’t believe in.
As a conservative, I also have an open mind to some “liberal ideas” – like drivers licenses for illegals – of corse, requiring background checks, finger printing, photo ID, and clear identification as a Non-citizen – this is NOT amnesty, as often discussed; this is the same guest-worker program that has been around forever, until some Dems saw “amnesty” to get votes. This ID is better than what we have now, which is NO ID.
Of course, violaters shouold be deported. Unfortunately, Bush et all have been so sloppy at enforcement of immigration laws that conservatives (myself included) are VERY suspicious at any move that even appears to loosen up immigration.
In summary, I would help “pull the wagon” for people stuck in the mud or up a hill; but on level land, they need to pull it without my help.
I come out of a conservative house,so I had a conservative upbringing. for me,it is really about converting back to being “consevative”. I spent alot of time just rebelling and trying to prove my family wrong about alot of things. The main thing that my parents,primarily my father did for me, was to cut me off from all the extra things I was recieving that I believed were owed to me simply because. So now I get nothing but half the rent and tuition. I’ve had to walk away from my hedonistic mentality and focus on what is real,productive and healthy. I had to make the change back or I would have destroyed myself.
I was a dyed in the wool hardcore liberal in the 1980s, terrified that Ronald Reagan would kill us all, that he was destroying America, that the prosperity was built on the backs of the poor, that tax cuts fed the pockets of porcine evil men in back rooms smoking cigars and were done due to shady deals made to keep Reagan in power. I listened to NPR’s All Things Considered religiously, while washing dishes.
But deep down, there was always a conflict. I hated the idea of abortion, I opposed most of the left’s moral positions, and ultimately most of the reason for my leftward leaning was out of fear and ignorance. I didn’t know the constitution, I didn’t understand economics, I feared nuclear war more than anything on earth – and growing up in the 70s and 80s, that was so pounded into your skull it was almost inevitable.
The real change came around the time of Desert Storm. The actions of the USA to save a people helpless, at the country’s expense and lives, for no reward or recompense was stunning to me. The further reactions of those on the left was repugnant. It seemed obvious to me that the nation had engaged in absolute, selfless good of a kind of altruism rare in the world.
I studied, I read, primarily the writings of soldiers and people who were around at the time when things now distant history were occurring. Rather than simply accept what I was told, I studied myself. I was confronted with horrible evil and incredible honor, duty, and selfless sacrifice to fight this evil, in a way that could not be done by today’s left. I learned about economics, I studied philosophy and theology, I read and studied the constitution.
And it all lead one direction: away from fear, away from emotion, away from the left… and to truth, facts, and reality.
I have been drifting gradually to the right for decades, but five milestone events accelerated the drift.
One – I had to move out and make a living of my own. It openened my eyes to the concept of personal responsibility.
Two – I bought my first home. Taxation became an important issue for me.
Three – I had children. My viewpoint on law and order issues changed.
Four – I read an excellent defense of capitalism article in Reason Magazine, written by either Charles Paul Freund or Jonathan Rauch (don’t remember as it was about 5 years ago). In it, instead of measuring wealth by current wages adjusted for inflation, he studied Americans’ buying power based on the number of hours worked needed to purchase a wide variety of goods and services. We Americans, rich and poor, work less now for the things we purchase than we did in the past. With the same number of hours worked we can afford two cars now when we only could afford one in the past.
Five – 9/11! I became a war hawk.
Eric describes the process we all have to go through, but don’t usually want to, of having to grow up, taking the personal responsibility for ourselves that goes with it.
Some never seem to have to, or make it when they attempt.
Nice article La Shawn!
I wish that I had a conservative “Road to Damascus” tale to tell, but I have really leaned right for as long as I can remember. My mother has a story that she loves to tell about me when I was 5 years-old.
Upon being told to clean my room, I clenched my fist and said “I don’t like to be told what to do.” Still don’t.
Hey Eric, I loved your story above – thanks for sharing!
I grew up poor, raised by a single mom who supported 3 children on minimum-wage jobs and a social security check. I resented our poverty and believed that society owed families like ours more than it was providing.
But I began noticing that Johnson’s Great Society anti-poverty programs often created a disincentive to work hard, study hard, and better yourself. And I also noticed that these government programs were wildly inefficient, wasting bankloads of money, while faith-based programs like the Salvation Army and church soup kitchens were really doing good.
I began doubting the liberal solutions to all sorts of social ills. But that didn’t lead me to embrace conservatism, until conservatives embraced (and liberals rejected) the protection of the unborn. And in that cause I began to see that conservatives could be compassionate, and their “tough love” solutions to crime and poverty and joblessness might be more loving in the end than the liberal policies of victim entitlement and pandering.
3 historic events really pushed me into the conservative circle:
The first was the impeachment of Bill Clinton, a president I voted for in 1996 (the first time I was eligible to vote in a presidential race). The willingness of the Democrats to defend an act I felt was so reprehensible was incomprehensible to me. It begin to show me how morally bankrupt the liberal establishment had become. It was also the first time I actually found myself agreeing with conservatives on an issue. This event ultimately led to my decision to vote for W in the 2000 election.
The second event was obviously 9-11. Although I was a black democrat, I was relativity ‘hawkish’ and nationalistic. (I attributed much of this to my obsession with the History Channel). From what I knew from history, Democrats tended to be lax when it came to issues related to national security (Clinton, Carter and LBJ are prime examples). So during the events of 9-11 I was at the very least glad there was a republican in the white house.
The event that really pushed me over the edge had to be the 2nd Iraq War. Democratic opposition to this war struck me as both hypocritical and disingenuous. During the mid-late 90’s I recalled the endless cries from Democrats like Kennedy, Dashle, Gore, Albright (and of course Clinton himself) about the threat posed by Saddam and his WMD program. Now it they seemed will to place politics above national security and pull a 180 on this issue.
Oh course the modern day tendency of the liberal establishment (and the democratic party) to align themselves with the anti-American extremist (like Micheal Moore and the Hollywood crowd) and embrace morally bankrupt policies (e.g. gay marriage) only reinforce my decision to align myself with the more traditionalist conservative movement.
Do I catch flak from my liberial Black friends? On ocassion. Do I care? No.
LaShawn,
I really enjoyed this article. One thing I have always wondered about —do you think that kids who group up being told they can accomplish almost anything end up conservative or liberal? I suppose the question is impossible to answer, but like your parents, mine were apolitical. I have no idea who they voted for, and they still won’t tell me, but one thing I always heard was hard work would lead to success. They preached responsibility, and I always got the sense that my future was pretty much up to me and the choices I made – I would bet yours stressed the same things, and that’s why you ended up thinking the way you do about issues.
After starting out life a young liberal, I eventually came around to realize what I did with my life was up to me, nobody else. So now a conservative, I wonder if I would have come to the same conclusions if I had been brought up differently — How about you? Do you think your parents made the difference? I hope the question isn’t too personal. It’s just that you have to wonder – there are many intelligent, well educated people in both political camps and it’s interesting to try and figure what makes them tick.
Southpaw,
I had parents like yours, only I do know their political leanings. They were Democrats.
They voted for FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ and Humphrey (I don’t think they voted for Ike. I’m not sure who the Dems were that ran against him. Was it Adlai Stevenson both times?) The party was different 40 years ago compared to today. Personal responsibility was not a partisan issue. It was common sense no matter your party affiliation.
When America was threatened, we needed to defend ourselves with military force if need be, regardless of your leanings.
Notice I only listed their voting records up to ‘68. In ‘72 Dad started voting GOP because as a member of the NRA he saw that the Dems were abandoning his right to own firearms – another issue in which the Dems changed.
So, I don’t think your parents’ politics had much to do with your “you can do anything you want if you apply yourself” upbringing. Back in the day, all common sense folk, Republican and Democrat, raised their children that way.
When I was fifteen, I dropped out of school and went to work installing burglar alarms and security cameras for about 6 dollars an hour. Here I was, a drugged up kid with no money, spending every penny I had on marijuana, cocaine, and speed, working my butt off to protect millionares and their homes. I was angry. Angry at the state of my life. Angry at the nasty, patronizing, condesending customers. Angry at my boss. Angry at everybody and everything.
So I thought I was a Communist. Was it right that all these people had money and I didn’t?
A freind loaned me P.J. O’Rourke’s “Eat The Rich”, which made jokes about economics… and also pointed out the damage Communism and Sociolism had done to the quality of life of everybody unlucky enough to be born under Communist rue.
I still wasn’t convinced.
Then someone flew some airplanes into an office building about two miles from were I was working.
That did it. 911 was the turning point. All the poeple I had looked up to were not rallying around the country. They were saying things like “This is America’s fault”.
And slowly I drifted into neoconservatism and the Republican party. I went from voting Nader in 2000 to voting Bush in 2004.
So, to answer your question, I grew up and stopped being an idiot.
What brought me around to conservative views? Well, getting out of California, for one thing. Spending the last five years in Colorado while seeing what my former home state has become does a lot to reinforce my view of this as “one of the last good places left”…and I’ve come to realize that conservative viewpoints have a big role to play in that.
Second was 9/11, or The Day That Everything Changed. I could see that it was impossible to “get along” with people that were bent on our destruction, and I simply couldn’t grasp how anything America had done in the past made us deserving of an attack such as that. In fact, the U.S. military has been far more restrained in their response than I might have been; several times, upon seeing the depths of evil that our enemies can plumb to, I have felt like crying out, like Delenn after the death of Dukhat in Babylon 5: “Animals! Kill them all! NO MERCY! NO MERCY!”
Third, I began exposing myself to the writings of conservative bloggers, and found myself agreeing with what they said more and more. They helped me see exactly how much malarkey the Left has been forcing on us over the years, as well as how the Democratic Party has fallen under the sway of the radicals. Before long, I was listening to conservative talk radio as well…and finding it more entertaining, as well as informative, than I’d previously thought.
So, sometime this past summer, I finally switched my voter registration from Democratic to Republican…and voted pretty much a straight Republican ticket in November. And I feel like I’m on the right side now…the American side.
Thanks for commenting, everyone! I’m interested in more conversion stories, so keep them coming…
I am 34 now. I was a liberal. In 1991 I converted to conservatism (which I believe is centrism/common sensism). In 1991 I was exposed to Rush Limbaugh and because of what he said I VISITED the LIBRARY 3 times a week for almost a whole year.
And gosh darn it if what he was saying was supported by reference books. When it came to the atmosphere, economics, environment, taxes, revenues, the constitution, etc.
Once educated, everytime I saw people talking on TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN), I saw how awfully inept/biased they were on every topic that was discussed.
This pattern continues today and they are so unaware of what they do. It’s as if they take NO time whatsoever to educate theirselves on the issues before they go on the air. They take the Democrat talking points and essay and put it on the air.
A little due-diligence and research would be nice….
Anyways. I’m really glad you wrote that piece La Shawn. It explains to me a piece that I’m missing. That is a perspective from your eyes. I’ve actually converted an African American to conservatism in 1999. But I did it during a marathon 9 hour discussion (Because we were traveling together) about what liberalism is and conservatism is. He saw how utopian liberalism is and how much it’s BASED ON FEELINGS and NOT BASED ON RESULTS and COMMON SENSE.
You can feel for the poor and want to give to the poor or you can really really be focused on results of getting the poor out of poverty. Many times tough love is required. Many times people are not able-bodied. But when able-bodied people suck the system dry (ala European countries where unemployment is above 10%) there is less support for the non-able bodied folks. The safety net becomes stretched too thin..
Great stories Erbo, K Ham, Charlie, and Stephen Johnson, and Frank and Christopher.
Stephen, Sorry I was so hard on you the other day about Mrs. Malkin. I wish you didn’t say what you said without knowing for sure (which you can’t) but I realize that it is a topic that will really rub alot of conservatives the wrong way because we don’t want to be perceived as racist or non-constitutionalists. But remember we interned about just as many germans so it wasn’t a race issue and constitutional scholars have argued this topic for years and aren’t agreed about the constitutionality during war.
The most important thing to me is that we are a country that survived, saved other countries and reverted back to everyone having rights again. We didn’t slip down the slope and stay there.
For me, it was multiple things spread over an extended period of time.
It started with becoming my own man, and deciding to think for mayself based on what I see and observe in my own world, instead of what others told me to believe. That led me to question things I had always believed growing up thru the 60s & 70s.
Then getting a real job (at age 30 no less), getting married and having kids changed the way I looked at the world. It no longer was about me, but about what my responsibilites were to them. I began to realize there are alot of really smart & capable people out there who are not in universities, think tanks or on tv. I started LISTENING to them (liberals do not do this at all), and realized there is a difference between wisdom and education. In fact, in some folks education can be a detriment to true wisdom. I began to realize alot of what I was indoctirnated with was pure hokem, and the empirical data and model of the world around me proved it such.
Later, my faith became more real to me and I opened my life to God’s leadership. He changed my insides completely, and that continued to impact how I viewed the world.
Then 9/11 demonstrated that evil does still exist, we have enemies who would kill us for no reason other than we exist, and my desire to protect my children and their homeland caused me to look closely at which political entities would best do that, and what stood behind those groups convictions and stances.
Finally, age, maturity, experience and some level (I hope) of wisdom crept past the knee-jerk level of thinking I had been taught and –voila–I realized I had become a conservative.
Growing up inside-the-beltway I considered myself liberal because that was pretty much the default ideology. I was always more conservative on social issues, and I remember thinking a lot of the more radical lefty ideas were silly or stupid, but I generally agreed with most issues.
I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I think one of the big things is that I started to learn a lot more about communism. I had some classes that required me to read and research a lot about the USSR, Mao and post-Mao China, and Cuba. And I started reading on my own about the rest of the communist sphere. I was appalled that the ideas I was advocating (even if in a slightly less extreme flavor) had caused so much death, misery, slavery, poverty and stripping of human dignity. Still, I thought that these were just corrupt implementations: the ideology was sound but the megalomaniacs that had tried to use it to garner power for themselves were inept.
I think what finally made me connect was reading Ira Levin’s This Perfect Day (little known but excellent, you should read it if you can find it). That book really made me connect the horrible communist policies to the ones that the Left (and myself) were advocating. It showed me that liberal policies necessarily lead to slavery and absence of human dignity. There had never been a “good” implementation of communism (as I wanted to think of it) because the liberal (communist) ideas and the rights/democracy/freedom that I imagined existing together were completely antithetical to each other.
After that I started reading more conservative works. I have to say Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged had great influence on me. But all that just pushed me into the center. I still had this image from my upbringing of the Right as racist, bigoted, closed-mined, old fashioned, etc. I had gone Right on economics but I didn’t want to be a part of that, so I stayed in the center and was just cynical about politics.
What pushed me over to the Right was, surprisingly, not 9/11 but the 2nd Iraq war. Maybe I was influenced by my study of single-party dictators, but liberating Iraq was so obviously the right thing to do. I thought the WMD threat was important, but to me it was just a justification for bringing freedom and hope to tens of millions of people. But I found (to my disbelief) that the Left was opposing it. Despite all the supposed leftist concern with Human Rights, when it came down to taking action they were perfectly willing to let the rape, torture, murder and oppression continue. The rhetoric they used was anti-American, racist and closed-minded. But somehow the Right was saying all the things I believed in; promoting freedom, rights, human dignity and democracy. I realized things were exactly opposite what I had been lead to believe.
I started reading more contemporary pieces from the Right, and stumbled onto my exact fit: neoconservatism. I was still uncomfortable with some of the social positions of the Right (such as homosexuality issues) but neoconservatism seemed to be right where I belonged.
And here I am!
Whew, that may have been too long for a comment ;^_^
Balth,
What age, ethnicity, gender are you?
I’ve been in CA since 1994 but I lived in VA from 1970 to 1994 about 25 miles outside of the beltway.
I’m a Redskins fan. Believe it or not there are 3 Redskins fans in the shop of 20 that I work in here in CA.
Baklava, its ok. Its a byproduct of being that ‘conservitive without a home’, too socially liberal for the neo’s, too economically conservative for the liberals, and think the libertarians are just plain looney sometimes. Its lonley being the only sane person on earth.
HA!
That’s mighty big-o-you!
Q: What actual legislation (or executive branch decision) passed by the Republicans in the last 4 years was too conservative for you?
I guess my conversion from drugged out semi-hippie in the early-mid 70’s to conservative was a slow process but it accellerated after I got married in 1977 and had a daughter. It was helped along by my Christianity that turned conservative as I studies the demands God was making on my life, especially after my first study of J.I. Packer’s Knowing God. I went from somewhat socially liberal committed Christian to conservative across the board.
Clinton helped my transformation and I couldn’t believe how bad the Democratic side of the isle had become. He did one horrible thing after another and then Waco told me we were in serious trouble when something like that could happen here–government was close to being out of control. Others were going off the deep end from the Democrat side, such as Carer, and while I had voted for him I couldn’t fathom his growing radical liberalism and lack of perspective.
I once had thought of Tipper and Al as Christians, but how he acted under Clinton, and his willingness to sell his soul to be president saddened me as I watched what appeared to be a steady decent into hell, that has only accellerated in the last year.
Though I voted for Bush, I wasn’t sure about him until 9-11, then I thanked God Gore had lost. While 9-11 solidified for some people their position, I had been working through the coming Islamic threat for almost ten years and while that helped focus the issues, it was almost expected by several people I knew and discussed things with.
On your fine article, I feel they put that paragraph last so it would end those last two sentences, especially that zinger of a last sentence.
“Moving to the right had a lot to do with an outright rejection of racial strife and class envy. In my assessment, liberal ideology is devoid of dignity of the individual, and it promotes mediocrity, failure, self-pity and immorality.”
Baklava, ha I’d have thought you could have guessed. It’s obvious really. The Patriot Act burns my britches. You know I like my Constitution raw, and untouched, lol.
Well, I grew up in a poor broken home that was very liberal, secular and democratic. My grandfather was in the navy and was a drunkard with a sailor’s mouth. He was very immoral and provided no moral leadership at home. My mother grew up in California (San Fransisco and San Diego) during the sixties because my grandfather was stationed there. I never knew my dad and my mother saw my twin brother and I as ” a mistake she made.” I was basically raised by the government and by the streets. Grew up around and with others who lived in the same situation as I did. The Lord blessed me to see how bad my family and others around me were. My entire family smoked cigarettes, are gamble-holics, cuss, yell, fight, take no moral or social responsibility. Close friends and others in my school and neighborhood quickly fell to drugs, alcohol and premarital sex.
I saw all the destruction in the lives of dear and close people that I had very strong convictions against drugs, alcohol, smoking, cussing, fighting, premarital sex, gambling, gangs, etc. I was blessed with athletic ability and began to strive athletically and academically to better myself so I could “make it out” and not be a failure like my family and teachers always told me I would be. Even though I had these strong convictions and excelled academically, I was still looked at as a gangster and drug dealer because of where I grew up and who I hung around. Then one morning during my senior year of high school the Lord’s grace and mercy called me to church where I gave my life to Jesus Christ. But I began reading Dr. Martin Luther King and became a disciple of him rather than Jesus Christ. I got accepted to Indiana University through a federal government program for first generation, low-income students. I was immediately indoctrinated with liberal lies and secular philosophies. I became an intellect and a triple major in African American Studies, Spanish and Sociology. I was loved by everybody on campus because they thought I was a crazy liberal. I was ideologically but not socially. I didn’t know Jesus Christ but I was very much against social irresponsibility.
My friend from back home who dropped out of school at the age of 16 and has never had a job in his life, told me that I was the most conservative liberal he knew. I didn’t know about conservatism or liberalism then. Then I studied a semester in Spain and saw how liberalism, socialism and secularism had absolutely destroyed the moral fabric of their country and all of Europe. Homosexuality, racism, poverty, drugs, sex, etc was out of control. It opened my eyes to socialism. Then my friend who told me about conservatism knew I wasn’t listening to anything he told me. So he found a book by Wayne Perryman titled “Unfounded Loyalty: The Love Affair Between Blacks and the Democrat Party.” I basically knew much about Black history and everything but all my liberal classes did not emphasis Christianity and Jesus Christ the way this Black minister author did. Then everything just clicked. But a what happened a few months earlier sealed the deal. Jesus Christ found my twin brother and saved his life. His girlfriend bought him a bible over christmas break and then he told me about it and we began reading the Bible together. Then, I just became radically conservative overnight.
The Lord is still working on us and letting us see how liberal our society is. Now, I am in this discipleship program where all these Christians are just very liberal in their thinking. They hold onto the world and are unaware of what is going on. There are very few real conservatives out there. And LaShawn Barber is definitely one. Reading her articles sparked me to become active and I began my own weblog. So that is my story. Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior and the Redeemer of all.
Yes. But the Patriot act has safe-gaurds (requires court orders). I just personally believe that the Patriot Act was a necessity to be able to search or tap phones or whatever if there was PROBABILITY and a WARRANT.
Nobody need worry unless they have REASON to worry. From what I’ve seen there was no abuses and the Senate UNANIMOUSLY extended the Patriot Act. That means that on that one issue you are to the extreme left or right of EVERY member of Congress. (Sorry to point that out).
That’s not a bad thing. I’m to the extreme right of most people also with my vision of freezing current spending levels and reprioritizing what the government does.
Thanks for answering.
Everyone – You folks have some great conversion stories. Thanks for digging deep into the recesses of your minds. Another question: How are your kids doing? Are they going through their liberal phase despite having conservative parents?
southpaw – You raise several interesting points about parental background, intelligent people on both sides of the aisle, etc. It’s hard to speak for others, but for me, conservatism had a lot to do with maturity and developing a sense of morality. That’s not to say that liberals in general aren’t moral. The liberal lifestyle I lived was very immoral. For instance, as a Christian first, I know that fornication is wrong. Before I became a Christian, I was a conservative who simply wanted to respect my body. I didn’t look to the Bible as an authority. Bearing a “liberal” or “conservative” label isn’t just about who you vote for. It’s a lifestyle for. I hope that explains my view a little.
I wish my parents had been conservative Christians, but I trust God, and the he brought me to himself this particular way. Man, was it a long road!
Wow, Aaron. Thanks for sharing your testimony! And you called me a real conservative. Quite a compliment. Now if we could only reach Mr. Bush…
Remember, I am free from the burdens of running for Senate, so all it says to me is that I’m smater than 100 other Americans.
And if you knew how easy it is to get a ‘blind’ court order, I think you’d think twice about that.
“Nobody need worry unless they have REASON to worry.” You already know my position on this statement. We are at a different place socially. Not gonna change.
Fiscally, you are to my right, but as you say, you are to the right of most. Though I don’t know if that’s a good thing (lol).
Aaron, that’s a deep story. But,I find it alittle disturbing that you would classify yourself as “radical”. Being extreme is never a good thing,regardless of what side of the aisle you are on.
By the way, there isn’t a probable cause requirement of the Pat Act warrants. Its more akin to reasonable suspicion, or articulable suspicion.
Yes. But what harm has it caused you or anyone else you know.
You can regard me as someone who just doesn’t get it. I hear people say all of these canned “Patriot Act is scary” phrases and “Destroying my civil rights” phrases and I just DON’T GET IT. I’ll admit it. I don’t get it.
I don’t understand because I haven’t seen how one person has not been rightly negatively affected. Nobody I know. Nobody that can be pointed to as a legitimate example. THere have been a few Congressional investigations into CLAIMS that there has been and then the Senate extended UNANIMOUSLY.
Call me naive if you wish. I just don’t get it.
The cause of my transformation from liberal to conservative can be summed up in four simple words: “I got a job”.
Doug, Interesting regarding the notion of evaluating wealth in terms of hours worked. That’s pretty much how I make any decision to purchase just about anything from a candy bar to a car or what have you. I don’t look at the $$, I look at my current hourly rate and ask myself, is it worth 5 minutes of work to get this or is it worth 2000 hours for me to get that.
Viewed in that light, many of the keeping up with the Jones items begin to lose their luster. I’ve never bought a new car cause I simply can’t see me giving up a year’s worth of labor just to get a shiny new one that becomes “old” a few years later, never mind the attendant full-coverage insurance, operating costs etc. On the other hand, I’d give up a month or two for a car that would reasonably last 2 – 3 years before I get another.
I confess, I did buy a brand new Ninja back in 88 because it only costed me about 6 weeks of work plus some OT. When I got done with that bike 5 years later, I had 53K miles to include a couple trips to Daytona and a whirlwind tour of Western Europe. Never made it as far as Moscow, oh well. Had I focused on keeping up with the Joneses at work back then, I suspect I’d still be there 15 years later, going from one payment to another and trying to stay ahead of the credit card bills.
Viewed from this perspective is eye-opening and would do wonders to keep many out of useless, and life-sucking debt.
I was raised in a fiscally conservative Christian home. My parents always discussed politics since we were old enough to understand it.
In 76, we all talked about Carter vs Ford and my dad promised to vote for whoever we kids (5 of us) decided was the best choice. We did discuss Reagan to a degree, but as I recall, he seemed strange — some sort of goldwaterish-boogy man according to the MSM of the day. Needless to say, we were bamboozled by JC’s smile and christian-esque homilies. It was also during the Carter years that my dad canceled his membership in NAACP, and cancelled a subscription to Ebony & Jet.
By the time I was ready to vote for myself, I was mystified as to how the GOP could have passed RWR over in favor of Ford. But remedied that by voting for the Gipper twice.
Since my parents stressed personal responsibility, integrity and brother’s keeper (those blessed with strength have a moral obligation to look out for the oppressed — that includes regime change), it was almost a no brainer for all of us to consistently vote Republican, sometimes independent. Not because we were party faithfuls, rather their platform tended to be closer to our core beliefs.
AGE and TIME.
Winston Churchill: “If you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If your older and still a liberal, you have not head.”
I was raised by an ultra feminist divorced mother and followed in her footsteps by being ultra liberal until my mid thirties. Once I began to take Christianity more seriously, I gradually became more conservative. Another thing that kind of pushed me along was, as someone wrote earlier, the liberal response to Clinton. At the time, I felt the conservative reaction was a little overboard, but what bothered me more was the liberals acting as though he had done nothing wrong. That’s when I really got the whole moral relativity thing.
My mother is still super liberal, but she stood up for me amongst our other relatives who were aghast that I was actually going to vote for Bush.
To answer your last question La Shawn, I have a 15 year old son who is even more conservative than I am. When I tell him stories about how I used to be and what I used to believe, he is amazed that I ever thought that way. He always says “Thank God you came to your senses.” My response is “Amen”
My father was a red-diaper baby in the 1920s and 30s: his parents were members of the American Communist Party; he went to Workers’ Camp in the summer. He took liberalism in with his mother’s milk, and still votes straight Democratic–won’t even consider voting for any Republican, from county dog catcher to president. I’m the fifth of six kids, and always considered myself a Democrat until I went to see an exhibition about Abraham Lincoln at the Huntington Library in the summer of 1994. Though I’m an educated guy, all I knew about Lincoln was he freed the slaves and was shot in a theater. At the exhibition was a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. I stared at it for what seemed like hours (but was probably really only a couple of minutes), and told myself I had to learn more about the amazing man who signed this order.
I bought a biography of Lincoln together with a book about Antietam, which was the bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War. Reading those books, I felt like I hadn’t known anything about my country. I learned that the Republican party was started to combat the spread of slavery into territories, and when Lincoln was elected in 1860, it was clear from what he had said during his campaign that as President he was going to face the problem of a nation “half slave and half free” once and for all. The liberal teachers I had had through school and college had all told me that the slavery issue was just a pretext for the war, that it was really all about competing economic systems. Reading about Lincoln, I realized that this argument was a crock–this man, who possessed almost unbelievable courage, could have let the south secede and form their own slaveholding country, but he knew in his heart that the United States couldn’t live up to its potential as the “last, best hope of the world” if the the south were allowed to break away and continue to hold slaves. I was also struck by how much the south’s arguments for slavery matched up with the cultural relativism of today’s multiculturalists. Southerners called slavery “our peculiar institution” and were outraged that people in the north had dared to judge southern “culture!”
The slavery question had riven the nation from its very beginnings, but it had been swept under the rug by various measures such as the Missouri compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln could have made some concessions to the south and anti-war forces in the north, and delayed resolution of the problem until a later administration, as James Buchanan had immediately before Lincoln’s election. But he didn’t. He believed in America’s chosenness as the nation that would teach the world how to be free, and he was willing to go to war–which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, in conditions too horrible to imagine–to make that belief a reality. All this made me realize that by choosing the hard but necessary choice to to hew to the highest ideals of what American stood for instead of compromising with or appeasing apologists for the evil of slavery, Abraham Lincoln transformed the United States from a loose alliance of semi-autonomous principalities into a true nation.
And Lincoln was a Republican. A Republican made this country by once and for all facing the immorality of slavery, and making the country decide that to be a country, it could no longer tolerate this “peculiar institution.” Once I made that connection, I simply had to change–I couldn’t be aligned anymore with the party that had defended slavery in the name of multiculturalism, and continued to denigrate America for all kinds of insensitivities about “other cultures.” Some evils need to be denounced, and at that crucial moment in American history, one party had the courage to denounce the evil of slavery, and another didn’t.
My father still goes red in the face when he remembers that I vote Republican. We try our best to avoid the subject!
Andy,
That is much the way I view things, esp when it comes to buying services. How many hours of work will it take me to sweep the chimney, and how much stuff will I need to buy or rent to do it (most recent example) Much better to pay the pro the $90 to do in 40 minutes what would take me all day
For new cars… usually with you, but my pickemup was 0% financing and had the company discount (all of our fleet vehicles are Ford, so we get a thank you at most dealers)… it was too sweet a deal.
For the length of the article, I don’t see how it could be any better.
I thought it was compelling.
Todays left is just not liberal in the traditional sense. They take away individual liberty in favor of group liberty – as if the abstracted group can feel pain in any human sense. Todays conservatism is more liberal because it seeks to conserve structures that actually work at preserving and expanding individual liberty.
The word liberal is hijacked, and probobly can’t be recovered in the near term. I think lefty is a better term for todays Michael Moore “liberals”. However, I have found myself on the winning side of debates with bleeding-heart type liberals by pointing out how unliberal their policies are.
I have had less success persuading true leftists with arguments about liberty. They have elevated abstractions that they view as “ultimate causations” of unjust society as more important than individuals. The result is invariably a degradation to a Stalinist morality.
Bak-
“I don’t understand because I haven’t seen how one person has not been rightly negatively affected. Nobody I know. Nobody that can be pointed to as a legitimate example.”
Jose Padilla has YET to be charged with anything. The ONLY thing we know is that the GOVERNMENT SAYS he is a terrorist. We haven’t heard from him, he hasn’t had his day in court.
The 5th amendment says ” No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger;…”
And to my knowledge he was not in the military.
This is a really BAD thing. Tomorrow, with as much ease, it could be you. period. there is no room to quibble. It could just as easily be you.
You can keep saying Jose Padilla till you are blue in the face and it doesn’t affect me. Do you know why?
Because the jury is still out on Jose Padilla
YOU NOR I know anything about Jose Padilla except for what the government says and what the critics of the government are saying. YOU HAVE NO IDEA what Jose Padilla was doing do you? Go ahead you can admit it. It’s not hard. You don’t know.
“When in time of war” – You seem not to get. You want to just stay on your high horse and forget we are in a time of war. (Just like your criticism of MM about her book on WWII’s practices)
There is room to quibble. There is one guy who YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE WAS UP TO and we just disagree on whether or not it COULD BE ME NEXT.
I don’t agree.
Thanks for playing.
Testy. testy, Bak. Yet you have done that which you have accused me of, not arguing the facts.
The facts, as you have pointed out are that he has not been charged, as guarenteed by the Constitution, with any crime.
So you are right, we know only what we are told.
However, the Constitution (which I have kindly provided) says that the Government can’t just lock folks up indefinately. Certainly not US CITIZENS!
You state ‘time of war’, but there has been no suspension of our Constitutional rights that I know of. We are right now involved in a military action overseas. So what? If he has committed treason, try him. If he has not, then release and survail him, or door number 3, suspend habeus courpus (which CAN be done). But a violation of ANYONE’S Constitutional rights is a violation of everyone’s.
But argue the facts, Bak. Where is this even REMOTELY Constitutional?
I’m waiting. And by the way, your ‘time of war’ argument is getting hollow; I am not some liberal you can chase off with a “remember/support our troops.” They fight for the freedom of this country. When the Gov’t does not respect its compact with us, there is no freedom.
by the way, you may have misread the amendment- “time of war” modifies ” land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service.” Its a VERY limited exception.
just a little Constitutional construction 101 for ya!
Funky,
It has been said that prior to Lincoln, poeple said “The United States are“, but after Lincoln and the civil war, it has always been “The United States IS
SCSIwuzzy:
I didn’t know that! Makes sense. . . Thanks!
Except during a time of war.
Study that for awhile.
The facts are that there are many people who “FEEL” as you do. And there are many constitutional scholars who “FEEL” as I do. You talk as if you have the defining word and that is final. Your phrase, “Where is this even REMOTELY Constitutional?” begs the question, HAVE YOU READ DIFFERING OPINIONS ON THIS TOPIC?
Here it is because it’s obvious you haven’t. I’m really in the middle on this one. The reason why I’m arguing with you is that you ACT like you KNOW for sure that this is unconstitutional.
———————-
Jose Padilla–a.k.a. Abdullah Al Muhajir
A fair and balanced write-up – 10 pages
http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/jose_padilla/1.html?sect=22
Supreme Court .pdf file – 44 pages
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/28june20041215/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/03pdf/03-1027.pdf
————-
HATCH ON RUMSFELD V. PADILLA DECISION
Washington –Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today issued the following reaction the Supreme Court’s decision on Rumsfeld v. Padilla.
“Whether a terrorist is an American citizen or a foreign national, a terrorist is a terrorist. Jose Padilla poses an unprecedented threat to our national security and the decision to detain him as an enemy combatant was made to save lives.
“Based upon responses from the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to my inquiries, it is clear that Jose Padilla has had ties to terrorist training camps and Al Qaeda for four years. Padilla became well versed in the use of explosives and conspired with senior Al Qaeda leaders on plans to blow up residential apartment buildings using gas lines and contemplated detonating a “dirty bomb” in the United States. He then traveled to the United States to carry out terrorist attacks on behalf of Al Qaeda.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision was based on procedural grounds and not if Jose Padilla can be held in the Charleston brig. However, when the time comes for a federal court to address this matter on the merits, I am confident that it will see the unique danger posed by individuals such as Jose Padilla and respond accordingly.”
Column on Padilla by Debra Saunders
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/debrasaunders/ds20040427.shtml
———
Column by Robert Turner
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002183
———–
Column that makes the point that Jose Padilla renounced his citizenship to the U.S.
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3168.html
You know, you have an unreasonably condecending attitude. But even worse than that, you play in my sandbox, instead of your own.
“Except during a time of war…Study that for awhile.” If you had read the sentence (see this is the part where YOU would question the other person’s reading comprehension skill. I won’t do that), or even my followup comment (having been, uh trained in statutory construction, not that you need it here), you would have seen ““time of war” modifies “land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service.”” It is not a general exception. Not to mention that you had a better ‘public danger’ argument than ‘time of war’ in the legal sense, but YOU WOULD NOT KNOW THAT.
However, that I state things in a matter of fact way seems to bother you greatly. You have yet to counter my point that the Constitution of the United States does not allow for treatment of an American Civilian in this way.
For the record, I asked the question “How this is remotely Constitutional?” The ‘Supremes’ in a 5-4 decision ‘punted’ and sent it back on PROCEDURAL grounds, without ruling on the Constitutionality.
If you were paying attention, you would know that that was their way of giving the Administration 2-3 more years to figure out what they are going to do with this guy. They Punted! They could have just as easily ruled it was CONSTITUTIONAL, and settled the matter. They didn’t. They PUNTED.
It is a statement of fact that the treatment of Padilla is unprecedented.
It is a statement of fact that treason is a federal offense.
It is a statement of fact that treason is “Adherence to the enemy, and rendering him aid and comfort,” Cramer v. US.
It is also a statement of fact that “In treason prosecution, the government cannot rely on evidence which does not meet the constitutional test for overt acts to create any inference that accused did other acts or did something more than was shown in the overt acts, in order to make a giving of aid and comfort to the enemy, since the constitutional words were chosen to make the proof of acts that convict of treason as sure as trial processes may, and, when government’s case is thus established, the Constitution does not prevent presentation of admissible corroborative or cumulative evidence to strengthen a direct case or to rebut testimony or inferences on behalf of accused. U.S.C.A. Const. art. 3, § 3.” Cramer v. US.
Finally, it is a statement of fact that the Government does not feel that it can comply with its burden, here.
It is a statement of fact that Padillia’s internment (we are bact to that word again) was not held Constitutional by the ‘Supremes’.
And Finally, it is a statement of fact that his internment is “Extra Constitutional.”
It is a statement of opinion that it will be held UN-constitutional upon rehearing if the Government does not charge him prior.
But it is a statement of fact that what is being used to hold Padilla has as much Constitutional basis as Roe v. Wade.
Argue FACTS Baklava, “Column that makes the point that Jose Padilla renounced his citizenship to the U.S.” is straight conjecture and opinion.
Pot, meet kettle
But then, by that standard I may be a franklin stove…
Further FACTS….
“One who becomes citizen of United States by reason of birth retains it, even though by law of another country he is also citizen of it.” Tomoya Kawakita v. U. S.
“Source of law of treason is Constitution. 18 U.S.C.A. § 2381; U.S.C.A.Const. art. 3, § 3.” Same.
The government could not charge Padilla with treason. They just took him away, never to be heard from again. And then they TOLD us something.
You are right. I shouldn’t be condescending. I do it in mirroring you but I shouldn’t.
Don’t act like something is not REMOTELY constitutional as if you are smarter than the supreme court and you won’t get condescension back.
I’ll stop on my end.
BTW, I gave links to opinion peices and the supreme court .pdf. as well as Orin Hatches opinion and a extensive write up by crimelab.com that was reasonable in tone what more could you want from me? I don’t agree with the way you PRESENT your side as being all knowin.
I told you I’m in the middle on this one. (Still undecided)
Legit question, now that the gloves are off and put back….what exactly set you off?
If my writing is pointed, don’t take it personally. Its an occupational hazzard. But I really am curious what it was exactly that had you so sure i was speaking from indignation?
Don’t act like something is not REMOTELY constitutional as if you are smarter than the supreme court and you won’t get condescension back.
My question was HOW is it remotely constitutional? Even the Supremes didn’t address that. They punted.
That’s why I’m concerned about what set you off?
Why am I in the middle?
Because he renounced his citizenship in taking up arms with the enemy.
Because he is a bad guy I can’t understand why people want to use him as a poster child against Bush administration.
Because WE DON’T know to what extent he has been a member of Al Qaida or planning attacks or meeting with the enemy.
The government’s position is that they want him to talk…. and we are in a time of war.
You disagree that that last phrase means something. Others disagree with you.
I don’t see the slippery slope (poster child being Padilla) because he was a real bad dude.
Sorry. I just don’t. And can’t and won’t. Slippery slope arguments were made for tugging someone’s heart strings (feelings). Logic is that nobody else has been “interned” in this fashion. You are right it is unprecedented and it remains that way. Hm.
How do you know any of what you just expressed? Because the people holding him TOLD you that.
By the way, the Constitution doesn’t just protect the good guys. It protects everyone.
I am curious; would you consider yourself a strict constructionist?
I don’t even know if it’s completely constitutional or not. I give you information and tell you I’m on the fence.
What set me off is that you are so sure that it is unconstitutional and so sure that Bush admin is unconstitutionally holding someone without charging them and so sure that MM is in it for the money and so sure that you were willing to just lay on people like MM and others.
You and I might agree on 90% of issues. But when you tear into people like MM and others because of their stance on civil rights you have to remember that we have a perspective that is just as valid.
I just don’t see you or I being incarcerated (unless you nearly as bad a dude as Jose) tomorrow. I don’t see it.
I think a little moderation in our writings might help people see our points of view. I lose that moderation sometimes. I’ve read opinion pieces where they agree with you and the headline and beginning thesis of the piece is – “Jose Padilla unconstitutionally being held indefinately while the U.S. trumps up stories against him to sway opinion.”
I don’t like stories that try to misinform. I try to go deep into the story.
Yes. I pride myself in being a constitutionalist.
You have to admit there is people who disagree with you Stephen.
You’ve seen me write about what the constitution prescribes the federal government’s role. Every one of the ammendments to the constitution I agree with.
I just don’t agree with your conclusion as being the final voice.
It may be that the final word by the Supreme Court is that this detention was unconstitutional. Right now I could see that being a possible outcome. I could also see the possible outcome being that this guy WAS an enemy combatant and therefore not subject to the 5th ammendment.
Because WE DON’T know to what extent he has been a member of Al Qaida or planning attacks or meeting with the enemy.
Correction, we don’t know even IF he has been a member of Al Qaida or planning attacks or meeting with the enemy. The crux of our divergence is that you have accepted that he is a bad guy, and that the Constitution doesn’t apply. Me, I’m not so sure.
Logic makes me question how high a former Latin King, jailhouse convert could rise in an international islamic terrorist movement. Not sure I’m buying. Ever hear Arabic with a puerto rican accent? Seems wrong.
I suspect that padilla is much more akin to the idiot shoe bomber (ie fodder) than a terrorist mastermind, and as a result I do not like the bill of goods we’ve been sold.
Nor the precident being set. Just because we are ‘at war’ doesn’t mean the government is infallible.
The crux of our divergence is that you have accepted that he is a bad guy, and that the Constitution doesn’t apply.
Let me temper that statement. It was a little over the top.
Correct. I believe he was an enemy combatant. As he did meet with Al Qaida, go to Pakistan and there are documents (I’m not sure if you aware of this Stephen) where he applied be a member of Al Qaida.
Sounds funny doesn’t it. Sign form here. OK. Now repeat (line of Qaran Here). OK.
But he did receive trainin from Al Qaida.
In none of my arguments did I call him a mastermind. Others may have but not me. I just recognize that he did participate in a war against the U.S. and therefore is an enemy combatatant (just like the Bush administration labeled him).
You may disagree that he is an enemy combatant and that is where OUR BIG difference is. Because if he isn’t an enemy combatatant and was mislabeled then all that you said applies no matter how bad he was since the age of 14.
BTW, nor did I say the govt. is infallible.
Thank you for tempering.
Please see my last post where I laid out what I think is OUR BIG difference.
Of course there are people who disagree with me. (joke alert) there is a word for them. WRONG. A little levity is certainly in order.
Again, I argue a point forcefully, but really the statements that you have keyed into are mild, and certainly not ment to be the end all be all on any issue.
I did not launch into a viceral attack on MM. La Shawn is a fan, and I respect her blog. I stated my feelings, and noted RESPECTFULLY, that we disagreed.
Your beef isn’t with my style; it’s with my position. If I were on the same side of the issue as you, I wonder if you would have been similary touched?
The one thing I have never done is slyly insult or call names (unprovoked).
I am “so sure that it is unconstitutional and so sure that Bush admin is unconstitutionally holding someone without charging them”
Yep. As sure as our host is in knowing that abortions are wrong.
“it’s with my position” – you may be right. I think you are making really hasty decisions about how MM or Bush are making unconstitutional decisions.
I respect them and think they are truly trying to get it right and think and act in America’s best interest.
Why am I a Conservative?
Because of the hypocrisy of the left.
When I was a teenager, I believed in equal rights, and considered myself a feminist, until I was told by the President of NOW that I had no right to speak, or take part in a Feminist forum.
When I was in my first year of college, I believed in the right to an abortion, until I met a man whose girlfriend had killed the baby he had fathered, and desperately wanted. So much for equal rights, or even just equal reproductive rights: according to the left, I have no reproductive rights because I am a man. the sheer sexism and injustice of this really reinforced the impression of hypocrisy I received from my bad experience with feminism in my teenage years. Abortion is legally flawed because it is cast, in almost every case, as an individual right . . . which totally denies even the existence of the father, to say nothing of his rights.
When I was a senior in college, I lived in a shared residence where we had three different room mates, all African-American, in one year. They were all freshman, and they all flunked out due to inadequate preparation for college, compounded by “affirmative action” admissions policies. That made me question just how much good government programs were actually doing. That same year, a Hispanic friend was hired by a major government organization and several of his colleagues questioned his ability to do his job, precisely because of the stigma of affirmative action.
After I graduated, I married a woman whose use of “moral relativism” translated into actions that were wholly and totally self serving, including adultery, compounded with perjury. A close, personal experience with the state of the art in divorce court gave me a reminder, and once again a very real appreciation for just how far from “equal” rights were. Once again, I was automatically a second class citizen, with little or no rights, solely because of my sex.
Conservative? Yep. Conservatives are just plain not as hypocritical. Sure, we have some hypocrisy, but it is light years less than that of the left. The best sound-bite for this is a bumper sticker I recently saw: “My car was keyed by a person of tolerance and diversity!”
“it’s with my position” – you may be right
Finally, I get to be right on something, lol.
We have come full circle and have certainly beaten a horse as dead as it could be beaten. But I think earned a little mutual respect. That, in itself means all was not for naught.
And have some faith. At some point I will advocate some position we share, with equal fervor.
I’ll look forward to it.
Coming from a traditional, middle class black family in West Philly, my family were Kennedyites because the Kennedys gave the “appearance” that they were allies of Dr. King and thus receptive to the young Civil Rights movement. Goldwater’s platform just wasn’t going to attract many African Americans back then, because back then, there was a real, true struggle going on. Now I don’t blame my folks because they didn’t know all of the things that went on behind the scenes that I know now. But Nixon ran on the “southern Strategy” and a law and order platform, and both of those positions were threatening to many black people at that time, because we are still talking the late 60’s into the 70’s. When the JFK met with tragedy, Johnson came in with the Great Society programs, and talk about “fairness” and such things that resonated throughout the black community.
My parents wanted me to be an educated citizen and just as important, my mother went through great efforts to make sure that I didn’t grow up hating anyone, because she felt that’s what was wrong with our society in the first place. So as I became more informed, I sought out information through reading history books and conversations with my grandmother who is from Virginia. What I learned from reading, is that African Americans were originally Republicans and religious conservatives. What I learned from my grandmother is that folks from the south were more “straight forward” than folks from the north (liberals). She said that folks from the south would tell you exactly what they felt, but you knew just where you stood. In the north, folks would tell you what you wanted to hear (does that sound familiar?), or what they think they should say, even if it wasn’t true, or wasn’t to your benefit. I also learned through reading that most (if not all) of the famous antagonist who oppressed black people back then were Democrats: G. Wallace (Alabama), Bull Conner, Lester Maddox, Orval Faubus (Arkansas L R 9), including Bill Clinton’s mentor William Fullbright, and Al Gore’s father. Add to that the urban northern mayors who’s police forces waged war against many black communities particularly in New York, Chicago (Daley Sr.- Dem.) and the notorious Frank Rizzo (remember him? Dem). Did I mention the only Senator in U. S. history to vote against both black Supreme Court Justices (Marshal and Thomas) klansman Robert Byrd – Democrat.
The sad truth is, I don’t my peers in my community were encouraged to read as aggressively as I was. And as a consequence, they did not seek the background and history that I have learned and now understand. For example, on the social economic side of things, I learned that black people were making significant social economic gains during the 40’s and 50’s into the 60’s BEFORE our government established the social programs. I also learned that our community was very entrepreneurial before the liberal entitlement programs sucked the entrepreneurial spirit out of the communities. I learned all of this by reading books and magazines in the U of Penn Bookstore, which was located at 38th and Spruce streets in West Philadelphia. That’s where I used to hang out. I used to also sneak into the Penn library back when all you had to do was look like a student and you would often get in. That’s where I first read about a guy named Clarence Pendelton, Thomas Sowell and Jack Kemp. Finally, I learned that people were being taught to blame others for their situations, and to depend on others for their improvement, instead of being taught how to improve their own situations. Guess whom I learned that from? Malcolm X, whose teachings I feel espoused many of the core, bedrock conservative beliefs of American society. I also learned when Malcolm’s completed his pilgrimage to the Islamic Holy Land to learn about the true meaning of his religion, he returned and preached that all men are his brothers, and we should not hate. (That’s what got him assassinated). That’s what my folks taught me (in different words), but Malcolm’s message of self-help, and not depending on the government is what really inspired me. So during the mid to late 80’s I started to change politically and in some ways culturally, back to what I learned my community use to be. And here I am . . . . black, conservative, and proud . . . . just like those who sacrificed before me were.
Victor, so true.
Who was it who said that the most dangerous man in America was a black man with a library card?
I know that’s not the quote, but it is the gist.
My father, a farmer in southern Minnesota, was a loyal Democrat and, thus, so were we—his wife and 8 children. He was frustrated with the entrenched Repbulicanism of every one of our neighboring farmers and spoke of it often. I grew up thinking of us as enlightened souls surrounded by a sorry lot of wrong-headed Republicans. When I was in seventh grade, I committed my life to Christ at a Sunday evening evangelistic service at a church we visited. My subsequent Bible reading seemed to confirm my allegiance to the Democratic Party. After all, weren’t Democrats and the Bible committed to the welfare of the poor?
I went to college in the early sixties and became active in the Young Democrats, Campus Crusade for Christ and the Baptist Church that most Crusaders belonged to. I discovered that most of the people at church were Republicans. One of the Crusaders, a Black football player noticed my outspoken support for the Democratic Party and took on the assignment of showing me the error of my ways. He spent a lot of time in the cafeteria and wherever he met me on campus to show me where my Christian values were really conservative. He wouldn’t let me use the words Democrat and Republican.
I was elected to the student senate and worked up to 30 hours a week to pay for my education. One of my jobs required me to pick up my check in the student housing office. On the wall of the office was a bulletin board for off-campus housing where people could post notices for free, advertising houses, apartments or rooms they had to rent. I noticed that the cards almost always had a notation at the bottom “white only.” This seemed unfair to me. If these people wanted to advertise for free in our university where there were students of all colors from all over the world, they should be willing to rent to all reputable students. I decided to author a bill in the Student Senate to require this and to ask support from the Young Democrats. Naively, I thought this was such good idea; I didn’t talk to anyone of the group leaders before the meeting. This was a simple matter of housekeeping in the spirit of the chorus “Brighten the Corner Where You Are.” When I brought my bill up during “new business,” I was met with stony silence. As I sensed this and became more flustered my presentation degenerated into a flurry of “you knows” and “I means.” Finally, one fellow Young Democrat said, “You know, you know, you know, I have no idea what you mean.” I sat down in defeat.
I forged ahead with my bill anyway and informed my football friend when my committee would be meeting to write the bill. I was surprised when a student I called “the campus brownnose” showed up in addition to the three of us on the committee. Shortly after we began the door opened and the room filled up with Black people, including my football player friend. Looking back, it was the first time I was in a situation where the Whites present were outnumbered by Blacks—by at least five to one. The campus brownnose excused himself and left. The group had evidently chosen a spokesperson beforehand, a tall, thin man who was a doctoral candidate and taught a couple’s Sunday School class at our church. He began by recounting his problems finding off-campus housing for his family. When he was unable to rent he tried to but a house from a woman from our church who was moving to a retirement home. When neighbors found out she was selling to a Black family, someone burned a cross on her lawn and she chickened out. His family now lived in another town.
Others in the group began to tell of their experiences when who should walk in but the president of the university. The very same president who had responded to a resolution of the Student Senate, that he read all of our bills himself, by sending us a memo stating that, because of his busy schedule, his direction was that one of his aides should give him a summary of our activities. He seemed to know all about my bill and pointed out that if it passed and the “white only” advertisers were not permitted, all the white students who needed off-campus housing would be deprived. I think this was where he also said something that renting or selling to Blacks [by the way the polite word back then was not Blacks but rather “Negroes”] in our college town was against the law. He concluded by telling us that we should forget about the bill and all go home. The Blacks started to leave immediately. Back then we were all into being “nice.” Shortly after this my health began to go downhill and I resigned from the Student Senate.
Later I noticed a newspaper article telling about members of my Young Democrats demonstrating at another university clear across the state to support the entry of Red China into the UN. This to me is the typical Democratic Party—embracing some policy or program of cosmic proportions and ignoring the simple, local things that could be done easily. It is Vice President Al Gore informing President Clinton that he didn’t want to work on the recommendations of a “blue ribbon” commission for Social Security reform because he wanted to “campaign” for President on the issue of reforming Social Security. It is this year’s Democratic Party running a candidate with a totally undistinguished record in the Senate, who campaigned on grandiose promises for education, health care, insurance etc.
I dropped out of the Young Democrats and joined the Young Republicans.
I was fairly liberal during college, largely because it was the only form of politics I was exposed to. I’ve always believed in the 2nd Amendment, coming from a family of gun owners, which was the cause for an argument or two. (My favorite was hunting: the game you hunt has no chance. Anyone who’s been hunting knows that’s not the case at all.) About the time I got into talk radio in the Denver Metro area I worked with a few talk show hosts who were reasonable conservative: Ken Hamblin (before he went national), Bob Heckler (who I believe is now in upstate New York), and Marty Nalitz (who I think is still in the Denver Metro area). These guys would listen to me patiently, politely counter my arguments, and never got upset when I disagreed with them. Nor were they insulting. Meanwhile, with all of my liberal friends, if I disagreed with them I found myself in a yelling match completely devoid of logic. Almost got into a few fights that way, believe it or not. Ultimately, I was more willing to listen to the conservatives I knew and I eventually decided their views made more sense. I’ve been a moderate conservative ever since. Of course, my life is plagued with angry liberals (like the ones I work with, who are still struggling with how Bush won).
I was always a conservative did not know any different, in fact I didnt know much. My first experience with racism came more as a wake up call than anything else. Where I came from was a small town in upstate New York, in fact it could have been a Norman Rockwell painting,..
To make a long story shorter, upon graduating from Boot Camp everyone got their orders and my friend and I were sent to Jacksonville, North Carolina, My buddy was black, we went everywhere together and of course took our first liberty together, where ? J-Ville,
This was in 1963, so the first place we went was to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Went in sat down in a booth and there we sat two boots, just sitting there after about 15 minutes I got irate and asked the waitress for some service, she ignored me, my friend much more aware of what was really going on said, c’mon lets get out of here. I said, No, we’ve done nothing wrong, he finally convinced me to get out of there, because there was no way they were going to serve us and on our way back to camp he explained to me what had happened.
I had never seen anything like that in my short life, 17 at the time, and vowed from that day forward that it would not happen again, of course there was not much I could have done about it, but became very aware of how some people were treated because they were not the ‘right color’, But actually the term liberal or conservative really never was a question, it was a matter of what was correct and just and I knew THAT was not.
Mark
Keep 5 yards
Thanks Andy.
La Shawn,thanks for the subject post and forum that allowed many of us who escaped the plantation to share our “conversion” experiences and for the forum to put some of “our stuff out there” in the ’sphere. More power.
“ScuzzyWuzzy” I believe it was Malcolm who made the comment that you paraphrased. Considering that was said in the mid-to-late 60’s, I’m inclined to believe that the most dangerous black man turned out to be, one who can convince his community that they are not responsible for their community, their families or their personal situations. That black man (with support of the liberal establishment) has turned out to be far more dangerous than the one with access to the library. I appreciate the reference, I got it. Peace. -Vic
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