Being conservative. What does it mean?

A friend regularly forwards me the latest right-wing outrage emails. The most recent one highlighted the perceived hypocrisy of  Al Gore and others preaching to Americans that they need to "cram their families into hybrid cars to go shopping for compact fluorescent light bulbs to save the planet while they themselves continue to live large".

This got me thinking about the definition of the word conservative, and the hypocrisy of this word being used to self-define the political right. It is to be disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., and to limit change; to behave in a way that is cautiously moderate or purposefully low, having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

In a political context, conservatism is more about preserving some ideal society that has never actually existed. An illusory pursuit of "the way things were". Policies forwarded by today's conservatives such as laissez-faire economics, religious conservatism and militarism are not good for America or the world in general. The proof of these failed ideas is overwhelming. "Free market" economic philosophy has caused financial harm of biblical proportion. Militarism for it's own sake has also been disastrous. Military spending robs the nation of resources (financial and human), well beyond any single line item in the budget and it's certainly arguable that recent military action has not made us "more safe".

We need a military for defensive purposes, but we also need to dismantle the Iron Triangle. Through government channels, created by the Pentagon, entire industries have been developed to funnel taxpayer money to private companies whose very existence relies on making more war. Socialized warfare in the guise of a strong national defense. It is a blatant hypocrisy.

Religious conservatism is the right of every individual, not something to be put upon us by moralists. Your family, your church and your locale are your business. Mine is my business. A good example of the over-reach of religiously conservative politicians defying the notion of individual liberty is the all out war to deny constitutional equal protections by defining marriage as the relationship between one man and one woman (thereby prohibiting same-sex marriage). Eventually this issue will reach the Supreme Court, The Constitution will prevail and federally mandated equal rights protections will extend to same sex marriage.

One particular element of Libertarian conservatism is more in line with The Constitution and may be palatable to our society if adopted honestly by conservative politicians. The idea that government should not have a role in defending moral values. It would be refreshing to hear conservatives advocating a hands-off approach by the government, where social values are concerned.

Individuals and businesses can and should make their own decisions, so long as they do not harm others. This simple principle should be the provisional measuring stick. Harm others and your freedom to serve your own interests must be checked.

Community Organizing 101

After sitting on the sidelines, opining and frustrated for a long time, I ventured in to the trenches of community organizing. Discontentment about the crescendo of the right wing noise machine has fueled my desire to make a difference and to stop being a drowned-out spectator. With just over 2 months until the mid-term elections I am growing increasingly anxious about a pendulum swing that may set us back to the failed ways of the previous administration.

This weekend I volunteered to take part in a phone blitz put on by Organizing for America. OFA is a project of the DNC and the successor organization of President Obama's 2008 campaign. The August 28th rallying effort was given the banner of Moving America Forward Day of Action.

I have a desire to do something. As I discovered, this is not it, but it's a start and will hopefully lead to network connections that will help me identify a role that is more appropriately suited to my particular strengths. My task for this day was to call registered voters and ask for support in the upcoming mid-term elections. I was provided a script that included an introduction of myself as an OFA volunteer, a brief description of OFA and a request for support.

The plan was to contact 600 people in our county. Each of the volunteers was given a list of names, numbers and a response log. My list had 61 names. I spoke with 13 people. 10 said they would vote and the others were uncertain or unwilling to discuss the topic with me.

In 2008 there was a big push to get people registered to vote. More than 30% of the people on my list were under 26 years old. I was able to speak directly to only one of the young people on the list. He was uncertain as to whether he would vote, and had no idea who he might vote for, but he was polite and thanked me for urging him to get informed and to vote.

My efforts yielded a response rate of slightly more than 16%. After 15 unanswered or wrong-number calls, I confess to being somewhat disillusioned. To be fair I was calling on a Saturday, early in the afternoon when many people would be shopping, gardening or spending time with their friend and family. It seems to me that the best time to call might be from 7-9 pm, on a week night, after dinner, before prime time TV shows start. That said I'm not keen on taking random survey calls during my evening decompression hours.

My personal views notwithstanding, this kind of grass roots effort is important and is undertaken across the country by volunteers whose motivations vary. When we met for an organizing meeting I had the chance to speak with several of the other volunteers. For some it's very personal. There's a cause or an issue that has moved them to become involved. For others it's more of a big picture issue and a desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. For me it's about integrity and credibility. I don't want to be the guy that just rants and complains about the state of the world and who does nothing. I don't want to be THAT guy!

Mosque... Ow! On the Hudson?

To a degree, I can appreciate the upset over “the mosque” issue. I have family members in Connecticut who were close to some of the families directly affected by the events of 9/11.

The debate over this issue makes me sad and the hyper-ventilating, fear-mongering makes me even sadder.

Opposing “the mosque” seems to defy all that America is about, and all that our troops are fighting and dying for….freedom.

Allowing “the mosque” at Ground Zero, can be seen as a direct affront to the people who lost loved ones, some of whom now have a deep-seated fear and hatred of the Muslim world. Fear and hatred are counter-productive, tending to have a longer-lasting, negative impact on the hater than on the hated. I think the other point that’s being overblown here is that IT IS NOT ACTUALLY A MOSQUE, but an Islamic Cultural Center, and IT”S NOT AT GROUND ZERO.

It’s curious that The Burlington Factory Building is being referred to as hallowed ground. For goodness sake, it’s not actually at the WTC site and WE haven’t even built anything on the actual hallowed site, after 10 years. How close is too close and how far is far enough. Calling it a mosque adds fuel to the fire. It’s not, so don’t call it that and most of the ginned-up controversy goes away.

I think that as Americans we are compelled to defer to the freedom argument. It is the very core of our being, as a society. To do otherwise, would be to lose something of great value.

Actual mosques, like churches, were once built on “conquered” lands. Often the churches were purchased for conversion to mosques and new churches were built. This is especially true in Syria and Turkey, that still have Christian churches sitting beside mosques.

The Cordoba argument (postulated by Newt Gingrich and carried along by Glenn Beck) has no merit, and misses the mark completely in terms of historic accuracy and context. I’m no expert on the history of Cordoba, or the inferred referential meaning, but this guy is, and he does a pretty good job of providing a fact-based argument as a counter to Newt’s fear-mongering. Read it for yourself and decide.

http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2010/08/professor-newts-distorted-history.html

A Call to Republicans....Get Yer Nuts Out!

Early in this 2010 mid-term election season there is a certain timidity being demonstrated by the normally outspoken publicity junkies from both parties.

In the spring it appeared the talking points and strategy of Republican campaigns would be following the frenzied Tea Party screed of "Taking Our Country Back ", "Socialism", "Health Care Repeal", "Show me your papers!", "Show me your birth certificate!", etc., etc., ad nauseum. I welcomed this swing to the far right. It's a call to arms that clearly doesn't represent popular opinion and will likely result in a rejection of the just-say-no'ers. The outcome may well be a status quo in the House and Senate.

Then everything went kind of quiet. Websites were launched to take the pulse of issues, that "we the people" care about, and lo and behold, "most Americans" don't give a shit about the paranoia of the fringe right. By the way, are we tired of the phrase "most Americans" yet? 

Republican leaders Boehner and McConnell, who represent decades of supporting one unbalanced budget after another, are now trying to win the support of deficit-hating, taxed enough already, tea partier crowd. It's a high-wire act for both sides with no safety net. There does not seem to be a middle ground for Republicans and so the party tears itself to pieces.

After the recent calm, in the absence of a cohesive Republican message, all media attention has turned back to coverage of the fringe right mouthpieces and candidates. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Tom Tancredo, Sharron Angle and Andrew Breitbart have the spotlight. Incumbent Republicans are quietly laying back in the shadows waiting for a White House stumble rather than jumping on the nut wagon.

The White House stumble really hasn't materialized. The Oil Spill, while dreadful and a failure of federal regulators at MMS, is difficult to pin to Obama. The false accusations of reverse racism by Shirley Sherrod have turned in to a coup for the White House. The Obama agenda has been moving right along and picking up steam. Like it or don't they're getting the job done.

Democrats who were recently resigning themselves to a conservative backlash effect, reminiscent of Newt Gingrich's mid-90's "Contract On America", have started to lift up their heads and look around. The scenery doesn't seem so bad after all.

I think we'll see a lot more incumbents lining up with the president in the months to come. If the unemployment numbers continue to fall and Democrats are able to pull together a unified front, there's a chance of not just maintaining seats but also making important gains in what have historically been Republican territory.

Don't believe the polls, the pundits or Sean Hannity. Hyperbolic rhetoric does not win elections. Fear-mongering is just not as effective anymore. More and more, informed Americans can see through the bullshit and are steering clear of the nuts.