Posted by
voice_of_reason on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 8:46:23 PM
Once the Gordian knot between Religion and Politics is untied ..
.. Conservatives can trump the puffery of 'holier than thou' liberals by consistently stressing:
* self interest over altruism
* freedom over enslavement
* fairness/justice over entitlement
It isn't easy to take this road - the temptation to sound altruistic is all too real. Particularly since conservatives know that the freedom to pursue one's self-interest actually IS beneficial to society at large!
Most issues can be categorized along three axes -Economic, Nationalist or Social, with some overlapping areas.
Economic: conservatives should hold laissez faire capitalism as the economic model with a proven track record and one that is consistent with individual freedom. Encapsulated in these principles are property rights, individual freedoms and objective laws that make it impossible for any group to be enslaved for the supposed benefit of others. This would make public education, welfare, universal health care and other tax coerced institutions illegal.
Nationalist: conservatives should support an America-first policy that is based on American self interest. As in the case of domestic policy, this doesn't result in 'exploitation' - although this charge will be levelled by the usual suspects who believe that everything is a zero-sum game. Such policies will raise other nations as trading partners, encouraging them to match our accomplishments.
Social: conservatives should support an agenda that is based on individual freedom and justice, but without the dogma of any particular religion. This will be difficult for many conservatives, particularly those who have found these issues to be vote-rich. However, we can't have it both ways! Issues like abortion, gay marriage and others will be particularly thorny -there will be some issues in which we may have to reconcile our politics with our religious convictions.