This might be a bit of a heady diary for some of you. It isn't an UPDATE. It isn't BREAKING. It took me years to come to these conclusions and it has taken me even longer to write them out.
Modern, American conservatism has it wrong. Did it always have it wrong? Maybe - Maybe not. Here is what I do know - unchecked Conservatism with it's obscenely deregulatory attitude has plowed us into the current health care, financial, and mortgage crises.
How do I know this? I was a former card carrying member of the Republican party. I did all sorts of things you should hate me for: I voted for Republicans, I protested abortion clinics, I was even a CR (can you believe it).
If this election is really a change election, maybe some of the things I say here can be used when you talk to your conservative friends and family members.
I'm going to go through this issue by issue:
Abortion:
When I was a conservative, I believed that the death of the unborn was wrong. I believed that the babies should be given up for adoption. I believed that abortion in the cases of rape and incest was wrong as well, but was likely a necessary evil.
What changed: I still basically believe the same thing. Abortion is wrong, but who am I (or anyone else for that matter) to come between a decision between a patient and their doctor. I still believe firmly that abortion should occur rarely or even, but until we live in a perfect world it just isn't happening. I encourage conservatives to hold onto their strong beliefs but work as hard as possible to make abortion RARE. That is a point where consensus could be reached - i think.
Health Care
When I was a conservative, health care was cheap, but my general outlook on this was people need to be responsible for their own health and not leave it to the government to take care of them.
What changed: I've always been and environmentalist (there are many conservative environmentalists, FYI) and health care appears to fall into the same area. Private sector solutions are not ideal, because ultimately the private sector solution will always be more expensive for the country as a whole AND/OR leave out important protections for certain groups (the ill, the overweight, those with chronic conditions). Yeah, I'm for socialized medicine. So what do you tell Joe Conservative: you tell them this. Each year Americans pay billions and billions on healthcare insurance, it has become as much a utility as water or electricity...no one can or should live without it. This makes either having healthcare become highly regulated or socialized a no brainer. We don't complain about socialized electricity or water - healthcare has become the same thing.
The Environment:
Honestly, I didn't get this one when I was the enemy either. We live on this planet. The good books say we need to protect it and be good stewards of it. My first visit to Alaska was right before the Exxon Valdez struck. We ignore global warming at our own peril. Some conservative recognize this - more need to see the jobs and green industry jobs as an opportunity - not a threat.
Regulations and Big Government
When I was a conservative, I was against both. Big government was a scourge, It prevented good companies from making big money. Who could be against that - it is the american dream.
Now, I've come to realize that the regulations that are in place are there for some reason - and likely due to abuses of a previous generation or generations. The structure of those regulations and oversight agencies might need to be changed, but gutting regulations for little or no reason will place us in a position for the abusive practices of the past to return.
I think that is largely the case in the current financial environment. While regulation isn't great and might curtail speedy growth, it prevents crashes and generally results in better long term ROI. Tell that to conservatives...
Tell it all to them...
This was a pretty long one, but if you want more tricks to turn reasoning conservatives, Rec this diary and I can post more.
Thanks,
Brian