Conservatives, Barely. Maybe. But I Doubt It.

I am trying to understand conservatives. The word has got to mean something, unless of course it doesn’t. For years I thought it meant someone like my grandfather, a professor of mathematics at a small college in the South. He embodied courtesy, respect for learning, personal responsibility, compassion for those in the town who found themselves in distress, dignity, a love of the language, a morality opposed to promiscuity and bastardy, and a quiet Christianity having nothing in common with the cruelty and hostility of today’s unlettered evangelicals. I thought it a pretty decent package, though I had problems with the part about avoiding promiscuity.

As I once considered myself a conservative, I had to say "ouch" a couple of times as I perused this column. I no longer identify with many conservative convictions such as "nation building" and the "war on drugs". I do think we should return to a constitutional government which puts me at odds with some libertarians so I'm just a lost soul with no political party to latch on to. Well, that suits me just fine. I can badger anybody without regard to their political affiliation.