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This week we set in motion the first in a series of five editorials on "true" conservatism. We will be covering The Candid Conservative's take on ten guiding words crucial to the mission of uniting and refocusing the conservative movement. We begin with reality and reason.
In the haze of twenty-first century distortions by conservative pretenders and liberal manipulators - the true conservative mission has been fragmented and displaced. In the absence of the clarity of a unifying vision, conservatives have become ineffective in fighting a host of social harms perpetrated by predators masquerading as benefactors.
Today's absence of a common thread of understanding and purpose places conservative patriots in precisely in the same position as our founding fathers in their time of adversity. Their struggle and our own was cogently summarized by Ben Franklin when he said, "Gentleman, we must all hang together, or, assuredly, we will all hang separately."
It would be a mistake to not recognize the current competition for the hearts and minds of our culture as a war of monumental importance. It is here, in America, that the last light of liberty for a careworn world is at certain risk.
The forces of darkness come with a promise of hope and change. Their hollow assurances have been empowered per the battered mutation of conservatism by semi-principled politicians exceedingly careless with the powers of public office.
It is half-time in America and the conservative voice is losing. It is more important than ever we remember what our side is about and unite and get back in the game.
Reality
The dictionary defines reality as, "The state of being actual or true." This single word provides the cornerstone of what it means to be conservative. True conservatives work hard to be true to reality.
In a culture increasingly devoted to its own pleasures, the black and white of reality is frequently traded for the grays of relativism. In this 'progressive movement' equation right and wrong are moveable targets reliant on the judgment of convenience. It's called "ends justify the means" thinking. Socialist thinkers who tout a belief in the perfectibility of man paradoxically resist the necessity of black and white values that can make man better.
Reality works in constant partnership with nature. Nature in turn offers truisms that can guide individuals and cultures seeking wisdom on how to thrive in a dangerous world. For example nature tells us that nothing is free - absolutely nothing. Animals up and down the food change know this, but man, thinking himself more special than perhaps he is, seeks exemption.
If one is a politician of convenience interested in seducing voters, the promise of something for nothing is in Chapter One of the 'Say Anything to Get Elected' handbook. The last chapter of that book notes that there is always a bill for such promises, but that chickens probably won't question free feed until they are looking into the eye of their executioner.
Reality, like Darwin, also tells us that we live in a world operating on the basis of survival of the fittest. Functional humans and cultures overcome dysfunctional humans and cultures just like fit lions eat sickly gazelles. Any culture, like America's, that increasingly defines individuals by their limitations and needs versus strengths and responsibilities is being set-up for somebody's dinner plate.
Reality tells us that tough love is really the only kind of love. Enabling and minimizing personal accountability is contradictory to nature and thus unloving. There is a reason Yoda of Star War's fame said, "Do or do not - there is no try." He knew that reality calls on all God's creations to stand up and reach high - not to sit down and wait for the delivery man.
Conservatives seek the truth of reality for the same reason most children touch a hot stove only once. History demonstrates a parade of people and cultures repeatedly ignoring reality and thus forced to relearn core life lessons. Liberals seem to enjoy the excitement of burning their hands over and over on the same stove. Maybe that's why they seem to be mad all the time.
Reason
America's current president was elected on the basis of emotion. His hope and change promises represented a carefully crafted appeal to voter feeling over voter reason. It worked, but as with most occasions where emotion leads the way, disappointed soon followed.
The dictionary defines reason as thinking in an orderly and rational way. If man's make-up is comprised of thinking, doing, and feeling, it makes sense that the team would be lead by thought. Feelings and actions matter, but putting them in charge without a restraining mind is why we drive drunk and kill our co-workers over petty jealousies.
Some people pretend to use reason, but it is only a shield for their deeper dedication to emotion. Holding onto beliefs out of feeling and habit has more to do with dogma than thought. The certainty upheld by the dogmatic is a poor substitute for the clarity upheld by reason.
Reason is the process of building perceptions into reasonable conclusions. Under proper application of this formula, Hitler, Stalin, and a host of other liberal social progressives would have been stopped much earlier in their life of mayhem.
Dedicated conservative thinkers resist the swap of reason for the temptations of familiarity, group think, or popularity. Those exchanges are best left to the emotion driven agenda of the 'something for nothing' advocates - liberal progressives passionately dedicated to regressively working against reality and reason...
Next week - Part 2 of 5 on "Real Conservative" - Morality and Unity
Dr. Carl Mumpower
www.thecandidconservative.com
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