My father’s mentor used to quip, “If you want to know what a neo- anything is, just take out the e.” Thus a neo-evangelical is no evangelical. The neo-orthodox know no orthodoxy. And neo-conservatives are no conservatives. We’ve known this last one for some time, often referring to neo-conservatives in the political realm as “RINOs,” Republican in name only.
Now, however, many of those who cling to the title “conservative” have little to no idea what a conservative actually is. Or they just don’t care. On social media I see self-professed conservatives defending federal intervention in our food supply. They support a federal budget that is trillions of dollars out of balance. They demand we raise the debt ceiling another $5 trillion. They think it wise for the federal government to interfere with my trade with neighbors beyond our borders.
Conservatives, historically, were those wanting to conserve our founding principles of liberty and limited government. We believed that which governs least governs best. We promoted in balanced budgets, free markets, individual responsibility. How then do we explain “conservatives” rejecting all these values and embracing big government?
Because faux conservatives are never opposed to big government. They just oppose the other guy’s big government. Every one of these policies would have been vehemently opposed by those backing them had they been proposed by the Democrats. Such “conservatives” want limited Democrat government but unlimited Republican government.
Don’t miss, of course, that the same is true on the other side. Leftists are now opposing these policies, despite the fact they would be supporting them had they been the policies of a Democrat. There is plenty of hypocrisy to go around. Because what drives us is partisanship rather than principle.
I’m not dismissing the differences that remain. I’m not arguing that both sides have the same vision of what a healthy society looks like. But they agree a healthy society is one in which government decides what free men once decided. Power erupts, and absolute power erupts absolutely.
Please, if you think yourself a conservative, stop making excuses for big government. Don’t allow the obvious truth that President Trump is both better than his predecessor and has done some wonderful things in office blind you to the blessings of liberty, and the cursings of a state that diminishes rather than protects liberty. Stop asking WWTD, what would Trump do, and start asking what our founding fathers would do. They understood liberty. They crafted a Constitution designed to protect it, to limit Leviathan.
The brand of the shoe has no impact on the footprint. Whether the blood red shoes of the Democratic elite or the preppy loafers of the so-called conservative, both can do the same damage. Orwell said it best- if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face- forever.