"Let me pose the question another way. Is it a valid tenet of Conservative philosophy that misery is always and solely the result of ineptitude on the part of the miserable? What are the conservative guidelines for compassion toward people who are in misery because they are poor, hungry, homeless, wounded in war, or otherwise squashed by their encounters with the world? Is there something besides blame or "personal responsibility" to offer?" - Amos

I'd like to see an answer to this question as well. Every self-identified strong Conservative or Libertarian I've debated seems convinced that the poor are poor because they are lazy, inept, or immoral, and if that is astoundingly not the case, then they should go ask for help from the nearest church, as nobody else owes them a living, though their children rot by the roadside, it is no concern of the conservative whose children have been morally provided for by their responsible parents.

Yet they conversely seem to have no desire to see the wealthy who are immoral, lazy or inept suffer the same fate, and will cry out at the idea of taxes being heaped on these same, who often are wealthy only because of birth with silver spoon in gob.

Libertarians, in fact, at least the ones I have debated, and who frankly appear to be exaggerated economic conservatives, seem to hold views which if actually implemented would lead to modern feudalism, with privately hired local work-gangs of the poor toiling over road repair and working, with no collective protection from employer excess or failure to provide safe conditions, the harvests for the local lords of lucre.

I find it an appalling vision, and exaggerated as it may be, it is an endpoint of the direction most self-described conservatives of the American breed seem willing and eager to follow. It is an every man for himself philosophy, let the women and children fall behind where they may, and damn the poor as evil fools.

I would really like to see some conservative philosophy that addresses this perception of conservatism as cruel, cold, and selfish. "I give to charity" is not an answer: most charities are not actually very good at helping the poor outside providing a meal and a suit of second-hand clothes, and then only within the narrow realm of their own belief system.