As we witness the fall and likely deterioration of the small Mediterranean nation of Greece, it would be wise to understand that unless America makes radical corrections, Greece's fate will be ours. Like in Greece, our politicians are afraid to tell us the truth about soaring debt, out-of-control spending and healthcare costs accounting for 30 percent of the federal budget.
Instead, politicians tell us what we want to hear, but those with common sense understand we're miserably lost, and the only way to return to safety is to retrace our steps back to the principles we were founded on. Conservatism as a political philosophy gets a bad rap because it's misunderstood. Many of today's younger generation equate conservatism with being old fashioned or rigid, when in actuality, the Progressive ideology they are brainwashed to embrace is regressive in nature, surely leading to the same fate as Greece.
Conservatism is not the bogeyman liberals portray. Please allow me to explain.
Conservatism is all about freedom. Real freedom, the true-blue, William Wallace kind of freedom, paid for with the blood of patriots down through the ages and annals of American history. It's also about real freedom of speech, speaking your mind, being authentic without fear of reprisal...hate-filled threats or labeling. Conservatism reveres freedom of religion. It aligns itself with the Constitution which established no state religion, period. To suggest the Founders established America devoid of Judeo-Christian beliefs is absurd. Nonetheless, activists chip away those freedoms to the point that bakery owners like the ones in Oregon can be gag-ordered (per the National Review) and charged with huge fines simply because their religious convictions disallow them from participation in same-sex weddings. This is the sort of tyrannical behavior America fought against during World War II.
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Conservatism is for free markets and rewards, not punishes, those who succeed. Like Greece, liberals here believe the exact opposite, incompetently suggesting wealth be "spread around." Unbeknownst to them, someone must create the wealth in the first place. Conservatism believes in people, strongly embracing the idea that no matter where someone is born, they deserve the same opportunity as anyone else to pursue happiness and attain their own version of success, based on hard work and determination. That's how this blond columnist can become nationally syndicated, despite her not-quite-middle class upbringing. Progressives would have you believe hard work and determination is for the greedy and corrupt, leaving only the nanny state as a worthy provider. Even if they are sincere in their beliefs, they are still sincerely wrong.
Conservatism believes in small government, at least that's what the Founders thought. Simply stated, Federalism has been undermined. While Republican administrations are guilty of government expansion too, during the last 7 years, Progressives have gone wild growing government to soaring new heights. Over the last 100 years, they have methodically chipped away at the heart of our constitutional republic by draining power from individual states, giving it to our monstrously centralized government in Washington. That's how a nonpartisan idea like improving healthcare morphed into the partisan monster fondly known as Obamacare. According to CNSnews.com, the final bill comprised of 381,517 words grew to 11,588,500 words when Obama administration bureaucracies published 109 additional regulations.
As the Constitution mandates, Conservatism takes the responsibility of protecting our country and our way of life seriously. As I write, the military just announced another reduction in troop levels. I bet Progressives cheered just about as loud as Putin did over the cuts about to happen up here in Alaska. I can think of four or five departments in government we could downsize or do without, but the Department of Defense isn't one of them.
While I've only scratched the surface (I'm only allotted 650 words), I hope you've come to understand that America's Founders clearly knew what they were doing, and returning to those sound principles is our last hope.
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