Sunday, November 23, 2008

A libertarian defense of social conservatism

Randall Hoven at The American Thinker writes:
Social conservatism is taking a beating lately.  Not only did it lose in the recent elections, it is being blamed for the Republican losses.  If only the religious right would get off the Republican Party's back, the GOP could win like it is supposed to again.  I beg to differ.
....
I have no problem with "social conservatives" or the "religious right" and their supposed influence on the Republican party.  I base this not on the Bible or historical authority, but on the love of liberty and the evidence of my own eyes.
Among many other points, he writes:
Gay Marriage

I am not dead set against gay marriage.  I'm mildly against it, but if it comes to an honest vote in my state and passes, I can live with that.  But so far, every single time the issue has gone to a popular vote, the people voted it down.  The only reason it is legal in two states right now is because of the courts in those states; a mere handful of robed Merlins made the decisions.

I also think it a bit risky to redefine such a fundamental institution that has been defined as between one man and one or more women in every successful civilization I know about, for the last 6,000 years or so.  How about we use federalism and the states as laboratories before we dive head-first into opaque water on this one?
Hear, hear!


1 comment:

John Lofton, Recovering Republican said...

Forget "conservatism," please. It has been Godless and thus irrelevant. As Stonewall Jackson's Chief of Staff R.L. Dabney said of such a humanistic belief more than 100 years ago:

[Secular conservatism] is a party which never conserves anything. Its history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today .one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution; to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt bath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain. It .is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It intends to risk nothing serious for the sake of the truth."

Our country is collapsing because we have turned our back on God (Psalm 9:17) and refused to kiss His Son (Psalm 2).




John Lofton, Editor, TheAmericanView.com
Recovering Republican
JLof@aol.com