{"id":16268,"date":"2009-11-24T17:08:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T00:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=16268"},"modified":"2014-11-05T13:52:22","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T20:52:22","slug":"the-ten-conservative-commandments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/24\/the-ten-conservative-commandments.html","title":{"rendered":"The Ten Conservative Commandments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grand<\/div>\n

Though, apparently, you’re still okay of you violate two of them<\/a> (I’d very much like to see that, though — if you toed all the other lines but were pro-choice, or pro-marriage equality, would you really still get conservative support?)<\/p>\n

The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on Monday morning. They are asking for the resolution to be debated when Republicans gather for their winter meeting. The resolution invokes Ronald Reagan, and noted that Mr. Reagan had said the Republican Party should be devoted to conservative principles but also be open to diverse views. President Reagan believed, the resolution notes, \u201cthat someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The modern (if you’ll pardon the expression) conservative Decalogue:<\/p>\n

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama\u2019s \u201cstimulus\u201d bill;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow, not even one onto the list, and we go from general principles (unsurprising but universal in modern conservatism) to specific slams (complete with “scare quotes”) on Obama.\u00a0 Does Bush’s $700bn bail out of the financial industry count here?<\/p>\n

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obama gets another slam.\u00a0 Of course, Obama isn’t proposing “government run health care” or even “government insurance” as a sole option.\u00a0 But, then, “market-based health care reform” isn’t really health care reform, either, so I guess both sides of the equation are even.<\/p>\n

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly, cap-and-trade has been supported by some conservatives in the past — though now that it’s actually a possibility under a Democratic Administration, it must be forbidden to all right-thinking Right-thinkers.<\/p>\n

Note that “market-based energy reform” is about as much like “energy reform” as “market-based health care reform” is like “health care reform.<\/p>\n

(4) We support workers\u2019 right to secret ballot by opposing card check;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is one of those really specific ones snuck in amidst the generalities (just as the previous point was).\u00a0 The whole card check controversy is one of those irksome conflicts that’s driven by bad behavior on one side opening the possibility of bad behavior on the other side.\u00a0 If conservatives were so emphatic in their “workers’ right to secret ballot” by protecting union organizers trying organize a safe union ballot, this wouldn’t be an issue.<\/p>\n

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A nice general principle, which ignores that illegal immigrants often can’t assimilate because of their illegal status.\u00a0 That said, at least one can call this a broad position take by most on the conservative side and with some legitimacy to its (simplistic) argument.<\/p>\n

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, some very narrow foreign policy actions here — which ignore, for example, Bush’s neglect of Afghanistan while focusing on Iraq.\u00a0 But, really, is it now the official conservative position that if the military wants more troops, we should just send them over?\u00a0 Really?<\/p>\n

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, I think pretty much everyone wants that — only debating what “effective” means.<\/p>\n

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, dears, we know — you fear Teh Gayz.\u00a0 Moving on.\u00a0 (Though this one is framed in a particularly wonkish fashion, with no invocation of God or Family or Civilization … odd.)<\/p>\n

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you oppose health care rationing, does that mean that everyone is entitled to all the medical care they need?\u00a0 Or just all they can pay for?\u00a0 And are you really opposing denial of health care?\u00a0 That’s positively socialistic!\u00a0 I find it interesting, too, that the anti-abortion plank is about government funding, not its legality.<\/p>\n

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, we return to general principles — though, presumably, they support some restrictions.\u00a0 Should private citizens be allowed to purchase fully automatic high caliber weapons?\u00a0 Bazookas?\u00a0 Regardless of criminal record?\u00a0 Or membership in ACORN?\u00a0 Or religion? \u00a0 I suspect not everyone in the conservative camp actually supports unlimited firearm ownership — which simply means that they’ve calibrated the right-vs-danger gauge to their own comfort level.\u00a0 Which makes it a discussion, not a debate about silly moral absolutes. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?<\/p>\n

So, looking at the list as a whole … wow.\u00a0 It sure reads like it was assembled by committee, which some being political attacks against the President, some being very narrow policy stands, others being broad principles, some being highly moralistic, others being kind of wonkish.\u00a0 I can’t imagine this would stand up to much serious debate when the RNC gets together, which either means it’ll get scrapped or get adopted as-is.<\/p>\n

So, of course, the question is — can the GOP really establish a Purity Test of this sort, and actually succeed?\u00a0 It seems unlikely to me, since it only drives moderates into hypocritical adherence to the Law, or else drives the out of the party.\u00a0 Neither seems healthy … but, then, dogmatics rarely worry about that.\u00a0 They worry about the Rules.<\/p>\n

(via Joe.My.God<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though, apparently, you’re still okay of you violate two of them (I’d very much like to see that, though — if you toed all the other lines but were pro-choice, or pro-marriage equality, would you really still get conservative support?) The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on … Continue reading “The Ten Conservative Commandments”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[718,9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marriage-equality","category-politics-law","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13631,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/03\/jeffrey_hart_for_obama.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":0},"title":"Jeffrey Hart for Obama","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Nov-08 9:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hart is a former speechwriter for both Nixon and Reagan, and until recently was a senior editor at The National Review. He calls Obama the \"real conservative\" in the campaign...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6018,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/06\/06\/reagan.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":1},"title":"Reagan","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 6-Jun-04 8:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"I met Ronald Reagan once, during his \"wilderness years\" between the California governorship and the presidency. As part of some high school speech contest or another, he spoke at a...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reagan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hosted.ap.org\/photos\/NY14306060413-small.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44922,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/05\/judge-posners-smack-down-on-wisconsin-and-indiana.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":2},"title":"Judge Posner's smack-down on Wisconsin and Indiana","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 5-Sep-14 4:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, there are some lovely turns of phrase here. But they're made possible because the two states in question did such a piss-poor argument in support of preventing same-sex couples from wedding. Once they couldn't say \"Gays are icky\" or \"God demands it,\" they were stuck with arguments like \"Tradition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29942,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/24\/what-would-reagan-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":3},"title":"What Would Reagan Do?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Aug-12 11:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, he probably wouldn't be invited to the GOP Convention to speak, based on his anti-American, anti-capitalism, anti-constitutional, anti-conservative track record.Reshared post from +Victoria Hudgins Google+: View post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26654,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/24\/santorum-and-the-fairness-doctrine-for-higher-education.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":4},"title":"Santorum and the "Fairness Doctrine" for higher education","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Feb-12 7:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Between breaths talking about the evils of higher education yesterday (where faithful boys and girls go to be indoctrinated into atheism, don'tchaknow?), Santorum also unleashed this little bombshell idea.\"Just like we have certifying organizations that accredit a college, we'll have certifying organizations that will accredit conservative professors. If you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27314,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/03\/so-what-is-a-conservative.html","url_meta":{"origin":16268,"position":5},"title":"So what is a "Conservative"?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Apr-12 9:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"What \"conservative\" means in the UK appears different from what it means in the US. Heck, in the US it means an almost meaninglessly wide variety of things -- only a segment of which seem to agree with the remarkable idea that gay rights are human rights and that human\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46510,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16268\/revisions\/46510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}