The goal of any political party is to get its candidates elected to office and keep them there. Obviously, the goal of the Republican Party is to get Republican candidates elected.
However, the goal of conservatives within the party is to get conservative candidates elected. The Republican Party is at best a means to that end. If the GOP doesn’t move back to the right and start working toward that goal, then there is no reason for conservatives to stay in the party, which is leaving us.
You might be a rightwing extremist if you . . .
. . . attended a tea party
. . . own a gun
. . . go to church regularly
. . . interpret the Constitution literally
. . . don’t believe the “mainstream” media
. . . believe the government should not run health care
. . . believe in states’ rights
. . . believe there are limits on what the government can and should do
. . . listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, and other conservative talk show hosts
. . . are a Christian
. . . pay your mortgage
. . . believe in free speech
. . . believe in freedom of religion
. . . served in the military
. . . watch the FOX News Channel
. . . drive an SUV or a pickup
. . . live in Texas
. . . believe taxes are too high
. . . believe the federal government spends too much
. . . think the public schools are failing to do their job
. . . believe that immigrants should follow the country’s laws and procedures to come here
. . . believe that the government shouldn’t be running businesses
. . . don’t want a handout from the government or anyone else
. . . are a capitalist
. . . believe the free market can fix the economy better than the government can
. . . belong to the NRA
. . . oppose abortion
. . . have read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
The following organizations, which I would classify as conservative, all rate members of Congress on issues that they, the organizations, consider to be most important:
The truth about the Great Depression and the New Deal for conservatives:
Books:
Articles:
Videos:
I’m also posting this information on the Information on Issues for Conservatives (II4Cons) wiki. Please let me know if there are resources I should add by commenting on this post or sending me a message on Twitter.
Conservatism is a political philosophy based on the premises “that all men [and women] are . . . equal, that they are endowed . . . with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness [i.e., individual liberty], [and that] to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men [i.e., limited government], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Declaration of Independence).
A conservative is someone who accepts, adheres to, and argues from these premises. A person who doesn’t believe in these principles, individual liberty and limited government, is not a conservative.
We don’t need labels like fiscal conservative, social conservative, paleoconservative, neoconservative, etc. Either someone is a conservative, or he or she is not–period.
Here are some online communities that I’ve found in the last couple of months:
If you’d like to get involved but would rather do so online, you might consider one or more of these options.
Sofie Inkpen
After writing about “Conservatives and Republicans in Second Life,” I decided to create another avatar to use participate in some of the groups I listed. (I originally joined Second Life a year and a half ago to explore its potential for education.)
Her name is Sofie Inkpen. Sofie is related to Sophia, which means “wisdom.” (I hope I’ve developed some by my age.) I selected the last name Inkpen because I’m a writer. I picked the theme I’m currently using for my blog because of the pen at the top.
Last Sunday evening I attended a discussion at the GOP Cafe on Sagamore Island. Billybob, whom I saw there, wrote about it in his blog Billybob at Sagamore. He also has a couple of pictures of the island in another post.
Last Sunday, I wrote that Second Life (SL) “can be used to organize and train conservatives and teach future conservatives about the Constitution, capitalism, socialism, and so on.” This afternoon I spent a few minutes searching to see how SL is being used by conservatives and Republicans. Using the “in-world” search function, I found the following groups:
I also found residents named Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Fred Thompson, and Newt Gringrich. It looked as though the Coulter and Gingrich avatars might really belong to those individuals.
There were no results for the following individuals and organizations:
