Conservatism

Thinking that needs an update.

“There is no shortage of conservatives, but there is a shortage of systematic, articulate, and reasonable attempts to defend conservatism.” John Kekes

Am I a conservative? I want to think not. My mother, who has had the biggest influence on me, responded to middle American, old school, Christian, ‘conservative values.’ But my mother was probably more of a rebel. She rejected many of the existing institutions that were put forth for women from her generation and, by many standards, would be considered progressive, especially for someone who was born in 1954 - a baby boomer.

My mother’s unstructured critiques of conservatism stuck with me. If I look back, I might characterize some of her thinking as anti-institutional or anti-patriarchy and definitely open-minded in many ways. I didn’t have to go to church if I didn’t want to. There was no pressure to get married after graduating high school. I didn’t have to be coerced into following a specific path. I was given room to pursue my own interests.

For me, what magnified my mom’s critique of conservatism was the fact I grew up (age 10 to 22) in an overtly conservative, evangelical, military town called Colorado Springs. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Colorado Springs is a fascinating community on the surface but a terrible place to grow up if you want to be able to think for yourself. The town is completely on its ass intellectually. If it weren’t so beautiful, I’d insult it more frequently. Although a few of my closest friends still reside there. And I do stop by to see them when I can.

My point is, I feel that conservatism has had a significant impact on my life.

• For better or worse, it informed my mother’s upbringing.

• My father was involved in politics in the Bay Area in the ’70s and 80’s doing campaign consulting work for the republican party, which meant he worked on California Governor Ronald Raegan and President Richard Nixon’s campaigns.

• Growing up in Colorado Springs - the conservative echo chamber.

Now that I’ve laid some of my early influences and ties to conservatism on the table, I have to tie this back:

The reason for writing is not to be critical of conservatism (although I will be.) It is to lay the groundwork for an extensive, rigorous critique of American politics, government, and liberalism.

At this point, there are one thousand different directions I’d love to take this, but look…

People assume liberals are responding to conservatives when in reality, they are both responding to the limits of natural laws.

This is what I believe to be at the root of breakdowns inside of American Politics. I need to put some more thought into it, though.

Talk soon.