WENDELL ROBINSON . COM

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about politics and political labels. Not so much about the parties, but more so about ideologies. What is a liberal? What is a conservative? What is a moderate? What is Left? What is Right? Along with these what questions of course come the corresponding - Who is liberal? Who is conservative and so on as it relates to the ideologies. Frankly over the last few years I’ve become more than a little bemused by the political identity crisis.

In my mind, I approach these labels as something of a literalist.

A liberal should be someone unhappy with the status quo - they want change, and as it relates to governance they see the state as an effective vehicle for accomplishing their goals.

On the other hand, a conservative believes that if change is necessary, it should come slowly and be facilitated through non-governmental means.

A moderate… well they’re somewhere in the middle. A moderate approaches each issue individually and in some cases feels that change is necessary and in others unnecessary. A moderate will support the use of state power when needed and oppose it when other methods are available.

The way I see it, the Left is composed of people who believe in big government and a conciliatory approach to international affairs.

The opposite could be said about the Right.

Why is all of this defining important? Because a week doesn’t pass that I don’t get an email from some irate reader who thinks I’ve sold out the Republican party, or conservativsm, or moderatism, or the Right in general. Take this missive from the weekend for example:

Your attacks on conservatives is disgustng! Calling people that go to church Christofacists shows you for who you are - another liberal who is afraid of God’s intentions. There’s a reason they say “one nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance. I pray for you daily.

A couple of things.

First and foremost, thanks for your feedback. I really do read all of your emails (good and bad) and they help immensely in framing the way I look at issues.

Secondly, the aggressive behavior folks like Rod Parsley, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Jerry Falwell (may he rest…) use to influence how our government operates is anything but conservative. They miss the mark by trying to legislate morality instead of using the value of faith to influence social mores to the point that making law is unneeded. If they want to make law, fine - but don’t call them Christian Conservatives because the Christian Liberals makes a whole hell of a lot more sense. I refer to them as Christofacists because that is what they are. They believe that implementing their dogma of faith is what everybody needs and they’ll be damned if they don’t change the laws to reflect their opinions.

Finally, thanks for your prayers - God knows I need them. I take my faith very seriously. While I don’t wear it on my sleeve, I consider Jesus Christ to be my savior. If some of you out there don’t, that’s OK with me, your religion (or lack thereof Christopher Hitchens) is your business, not mine.

If I were to be judged about what and who I am on the scale of political labels by the current vernacular of the MSM, it’s likely that I would be called a “liberal Republican”, or a Right-leaning moderate. It’s doubtful that anybody would call me a conservative.

But I think that’s wrong. Ironically my political beliefs are almost completely aligned with the man considered to be the “father” of the Republican conservative movement - Barry Goldwater.

So let me ask you oh wise keepers of Conservativism, was Barry Goldwater not a conservative?