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.