What’s Gone Wrong?

I’m proud to call myself a conservative. That’s to say I believe strongly in ones right to privacy, freedom of speech, and as little federal government intervention as feasibly possible. To me, being a conservative means upholding the constitution and keeping in mind what our founding fathers were thinking when we go about complicating and altering what seems to me, an efficient, straight-forward, document.

It means logic and practicality on the political/economic scale. That means sticking to a modest budget, minimal taxation (and when we are being taxed knowing that its for things we absolutely need and can’t provide ourselves), and leaving the issues that directly affect a people solely to those people’s community. It doesn’t mean a towering federal government wastefully spending American’s hard earned money on things they don’t approve of. And it doesn’t mean intricate webs of bureaucracy complicating what could be simple and direct if handled on a smaller scale.

Why then, when I sat down in my large comfortable recliner to watch the Republican convention, did I feel anything but comfortable? Why did I feel as if my views were not being represented by the party that supposedly fights to uphold them? If such a party truly does reflect these views I hold dear, why did it feel like I had stumbled into enemy territory and was spying on some sort of rally before the big battle?

Why? Because maybe the people on the television before me didn’t share the same views as me. Just maybe the power hungry and corrupt found a perfect audience to manipulate some time ago. And maybe that audience was the freedom loving. The practical, hard working, honest Americans who would never suspect trickery or fowl play, because few would ever dream of doing such a thing themselves.

Once such an audience is obtained, the corrupt begin to manipulate. It stands for the views it’s audience has, and fails to uphold them. It creates “enemies” whether they’re terrorists who want to harm them, or liberals who want to tax them and take away Christmas. The audience is angered, and what better way is there to unify than that? Once the audience is angry, its not so much about the core of their values. It’s about fighting to protect them. It’s an “Us against them” scenario, and things we once held dear such as privacy can be abandoned (the Patriot Act for example), so long as its in the name of taking down that horrible enemy.

So where does that leave us? You tell me. I know theres no candidate in this race that supports my views, and I bet if there was they would have a few ideas. I’d like to think they would run a campaign that wouldn’t need some gimmick like “change” or a tough and savvy hockey mom. Perhaps they’d even get votes because of what they stood for instead of their image. It sure would be nice to live in a world where such hopes wouldn’t seem so far fetched.