Posted by
Andrews on Monday, June 29, 2009 5:51:55 PM
My recent posting has taught me one more thing, why conservatives have such a hard time winning. If anything, I have learned a great deal of sympathy for John McCain.
My regular readers know I am, if anything, obsessive about small government and federalism. My beliefs are so extreme I would end medical regulation and decriminalize drugs. In addition, many also know I am both devout and quite a moral individual. I believe in absolute ethics and have no problem expressing that.
So, it shocked me when my essay was greeted by people criticizing me for failing to believe in absolute "values" in ethics, or for failing to mention that government should be minimal.
My point was simple, so long as government undertakes actions, saying that a goal should be pursued at any cost is absurd. I gave some specific examples, arguing that we do not treat health and life as if they were worth any cost, and that was it. It was a simple economic analysis and argument against much of the nanny-state philosophy we see around us.
What surprised me was how angry conservatives can be unless you hit on their specific pet topic. From small government fanatics to the devout to the Objectivists, all took me to task because they thought I ran down their particular pet topic.
I know the left can be just as bad, with their enforced orthodoxies, racism/sexist/ageism/speciesism witch hunts, and periodic purges, but this was my first real run in with this on the right, outside of periodic spats with the Buchananites and a few Ron Paul fanciers.
Until we learn that conservatives can have a range of beliefs greater than "exactly like mine" we really are destined to take office only to lose it again. Oh, we will win, as the left self-destructs just as readily, but I doubt we will hold office long while we engage in such heated turf wars over such trifling differences. Yes, I have said we should expel the more far out moderates, and I stand by it, a smaller party is a good thing. But I think we should beware of the opposite, a party so small no one can belong.
In short, a party small enough to stay on topic is a good thing. A party which tears itself apart fighting over trifles is not.
POSTSCRIPT
Before anyone thinks I am making too much of a difference of opinions, this is hardly the first time I have thought this same thing. When many were threatening to walk out rather than support McCain I was just as critical. We, as a group, have a disturbing tendency to think we are each the "one true conservative" and everyone else is suspect unless they nod along with every word. That needs to end. No single one of us is perfect, we need to admit that others may have some ideas worthy of a hearing, even if they fail to say exactly what we would.
POSTSCRIPT II
Just realized this sounds as if I am complaining, but far from it. I had the time of my life having so many comments to which I could respond. I was just shocked to see so many with whom I would likely agree jumping to conclusions because I denounced "absolute values". I thought we were above that.