Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

March 27, 2006

On Being Proud to Be Conservative

Burt Prelutsky, who writes a regular column for Town Hall, has written an excellent one this week, entitled Proud to Be A Conservative. (Apparently it's a rerun from late last year.)

The other day I was listening to a talk radio show, and heard a caller announce that there’s no freedom of speech in this country, that, because of the fascistic administration in Washington, people are afraid to criticize the government. His proof was that Cindy Sheehan had been rebuked for merely exercising her constitutional right to mouth off against authority figures. The show’s host correctly pointed out that the 1st Amendment guarantees her freedom to speak her mind, such as it is, but that doesn’t in any way curtail the right of other Americans to call her an idiot.

What the host didn’t point out was that even as the caller spoke, he was contradicting his own statement. He was freely sharing his own foolish thoughts with millions of listeners.

That's a great observation. Was this caller rounded up and hauled off to the gulag for daring to say what he did? Used for horrible medical experiments? Overworked and then starved to death? Give me a break. Whenever lefties have their views criticized, they give the rallying cry, "My free speech is being violated!" The only thing being violated in this instance is common sense.

Frankly, I’m amazed that liberals can be wrong so often about so many things. One of the few issues they are occasionally right about is protecting the environment. But even when it comes down to that, the radical element that infests their ranks like termites are always trying to stop any and all forms of development, the source of homes and jobs for those of us who don’t want to live in trees. Their love for Mother Earth leads them to blow up buildings, bomb car dealerships, and sabotage logging sites, all with an air of moral authority. They don’t, in fact, love snail darters, spotted owls or Alaska’s caribou, anymore than the rest of us; they merely hate western civilization in much the same way that Islamic fascists do.

A fact worth noting is that during LBJ’s administration, a group of tree huggers got an injunction to prevent the feds from working on a certain project in the South, for fear it would harm the environment. The project involved shoring up the levees of New Orleans.

Here's a link regarding that injunction. Why has this gotten less play than that of the current administration's role in the Katrina mess? Because being a leftie means never having to say either "I was wrong" or "I'm sorry."

I too am proud to be a conservative. Like Prelutsky I tend to vote for Republicans. Likewise, I know that all politicians have flaws. There's plenty I disagree with regarding President Bush's policies. An example I cite often is his handling of the illegal immigration problem. However, that doesn't mean I throw the baby out with the bathwater. An "all or nothing" ideology doesn't make for a strong party. Which is why, I think, the Democrats are in the trouble they are. The radical left is making it hard for moderates to come to the fore. And if Republicans aren't careful, they'll end up having the same problem.

Looking back on my own political metamorphosis, I realize how typical it is that, as one matures, takes on responsibilities, deals with tragedy and loss, one tends to drift from left to right, and how rarely the reverse occurs.

I've made this journey myself, and therefore believe it to be true.

Oh, and if anyone decides to leave a comment disagreeing with what I've said here, I promise not to claim that my First Amendment rights have been violated.