I am a conservative because I believe in the Constitution as ratified and amended. Any branch of government overreaching its enumerated powers is doing wrong.

I am a conservative because I believe the Federal Government should be responsible for the defense of the country, entering treaties with foreign governments, moderate as between the states, and assist in major projects that benefit the country as a whole, but should largely leave everyday life decisions to local governances and the people.

I am a conservative because I believe that individuals, families, private secular and religious organizations should work ameliorate the problems of the commonalty to the extent possible, with as little governmental intrusion as possible. Governments should be the last resort, as it were.

I am a conservative because I know that living is dangerous. I don't need or want any governmental group abridging anybody's right to do things that may be bad or harmful for them. I want people to exercise the right to make their own mistakes, learn from them and go forward.

I am a conservative because I believe that individuals should be held accountable for their actions, and should so hold themselves accountable as well. If people make informed decisions--or uninformed decisions where information is available-- which harm them, they should accept the consequences. This includes social, financial and health decisions.

I am a conservative because I believe in the following hierarchy of controls in one's life: self, local (city, town) ordinances, state laws, federal laws…with less control the farther away from local control one gets.

I am a conservative because I believe that Conservatism generally makes decisions more in keeping with what I believe. [And as I have said 'generally' that means I don't believe that Conservatism always lives up to those ideals.]

I keep seeing the term Neo-conservative (Neo-Con) pop up here at Mudcat. I have asked what this means, because it isn't used, from what I can see here , as what it meant from the 1970s when it first gained currency.   So allow me to close with an analogy (this is tome is already a page long):

Many Jews 'keep Kosher', meaning they follow food rituals, and eat only foods so prepared. But for some Jews, Kosher isn't good enough, so they follow 'Glatt Kosher' ritual, which I lovingly call "More Kosher than thou." As many liberals don't think the term conservative accurately connotes the meanness of us as is, I believe they have co-opted the term Neo-Con to describe conservatism as really venal.

JotSC