Conservative Rating System

           One of the things that attracted me to conservative thought was its staunch opposition to collectivism.  The Cold War was at its pinnacle as I was coming of age, so many Conservatives were leading the forces against communism.  I drew from this that to be conservative was to be anti-totalitarian and anti-communist.

           With this idea in mind, I have devised a quick rating system to score public figures, pundits and politicians.  I began by looking at the Communist Manifesto.  I first took the opposite of the ten "principles" of the Communist Manifesto to create a set of Conservative Principles. 

           By examining a public figure's, pundit's or politician's statements and actions on each of these principles, a person can be scored as either agreeing with the principle completely (10 points), agreeing with the principle partially (5 points), or not agreeing with the principle at all (0 points).  This creates an easy 100 point scale which can be used to give a "Conservative Rating" to each individual.

Conservative Principles: 

1.    Private property rights must be universal and strongly protected.  Government should control the minimal amount of property necessary to carry out good governance and protect citizens from forces that would do them harm, both foreign and domestic.

2.    There should be no income tax or other forms of direct taxation.

3.    The legal transfer of wealth from generation to generation must not be encumbered.

4.    The State should not be able to confiscate privately held property without due process of law; nor should private property be taken for public use.

5.    The function of banking and credit should be carried out by competing private interests.  No State sponsored bank or credit institution should be allowed to exist.

6.    All people should be allowed to freely speak, assemble, worship, communicate and travel without interference from the State.

7.    All lands, factories and instruments of production shall be owned by private entities and market forces should be trusted to assure the best possible allocation of all resources.

8.    Free people should be allowed to trade their labor for whatever ends they wish.  The State owns no person and should not direct any person as to how they use their skills, talents or intellect.

9.    Government should have no interest in where people choose to live.  Each person should be free to choose where they live with respect to other people.

10. Education of children is the responsibility of parents.  People should be free to raise their children according to their own background and culture, as long as to do so causes no tangible harm.

I plan to use this system in the near future to give a "Conservative Rating" to some candidates and other public figures.

The Unconscious Conservative

     Many years ago I was looking for a group of fellow conservatives so I could find fellowship and discuss ideas.  I came across a group of Republicans.  Having been told my entire life that the Republican Party was the Party for Conservatives,  I decided to talk to them.  I asked them if they were conservative and they replied that they were.  However, I'm a bit skeptical by nature so I decided to give them a test.  One of the items that had drawn me most to the conservative belief system was the stance against communisim and totalitarian regimes in general.  I had recently read "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx so I quizzed the Republicans about their beliefs on the various tenets of communism.  To my surprise, they agreed with most of the communist doctrine.  I am sure that these people were honest and believed that they were conservative but I believe that they were actually Unconscious Conservatives.  Unconscious Conservatives are those people who sleepwalk blindly through political life, believing that what their favorite politician or radio host tells them is a conservative belief actually is a conservative belief.  I prefer to be a Conscious Conservative.  I analyze each position to determine if it truly matches conservative values.

To Illustrate this further,  let's contrast some views of Communists, Unconscious Conservatives and Conscious Conservatives.

Communist-  Abolish private property
Unconscious Conservative-  Regulate uses of private property and determine who can own what property
Conscious Conservative-  Allow complete ownership of private property with all rights and privileges

Communist-  Establish a Progressive Income Tax
Unconscious Conservative-  Establish a "Flat Tax" or "Fair Tax"
Conscious Conservative-  Any Tax on the fruit of a person's labor or intellect is theft and immoral

Communist-  Centralize credit in a National Bank
Unconscious Conservative-  Support a Federal Reserve system--Use public funds to help banks that are "too big to fail"
Conscious Conservative-  Abolish the Federal Reserve, return to a sound monetary system.

The list could go on, but the main point has been made.  The Unconscious Conservative agrees with the Communist but modifies the position slightly so that it isn't "too radical"  or makes "good common sense."  The Conscious Conservative considers each position in light of the principles of natural rights for all human beings, the ideas of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America and the concepts of liberty and equality under the law.