tenets

I rarely read Breitbart anymore because the racists, bigots, and homophobes have taken over the comment section. What makes it worse is Breitbart management apparently doesn’t care and at this point, just wants clicks. What a downfall for the terrific site Andrew created.

The same is happening at the Gateway Pundit (GP). Jim Hoft, the Founder and Editor of the Gateway Pundit, is gay, something he neither hides nor broadcasts. He’s just a Conservative guy who created a fantastic website that has taken over the role Breitbart once played. Now I see the same thing happening in the comments at GP as started on Breitbart a few years ago. There was always some of this on GP, but recently it has gotten totally out of control.

I assume some of this is being done by far-left activists who post inflammatory comments on Conservative sites, but from the number of these comments, there is more to this. Caitlyn Jenner being on Hannity last night is what kicked off the comments today, Hannity played this ad. If you ignore that Bruce is now Caitlyn, this is a phenomenal ad and has just the right tone Conservatives should have. It is a model ad for Conservatism.

As a teenager growing up in a small town, I only knew of 1 homosexual man and he was kind of creepy. There were rumors of an older black kid having both male and female sex organs. He looked like a boy but everyone called “him” Sis. When was a little older, I learned one of my former classmates had come out as gay, and in college, I knew both boys and girls that were homosexuals.

When I started working I met more gay people. Some announced they were gay at every opportunity that came up and others never said a word about it in public. Some acted “gay” and some didn’t. It was still very confusing to me, but I couldn’t believe many people would become homosexual by choice. It is hard enough to be part of the huge majority of heterosexuals, so why would a person choose to become gay? I think very few do.

If people don’t choose to be gay, then why are they gay? I’m not an expert and am not trying to pretend to be one, but the obvious reasons are either genetics or environment or possibly a combination. There have always been homosexuals in human communities and in animal communities. When I thought about how scary it must be to a 12 or 13-year-old to discover that they have sexual feelings toward kids of their own sex, I knew my attitude toward homosexuals needed to change, and it has.

I AM a CONSERVATIVE WHO BELIEVES in INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, and EQUALITY UNDER GOD and UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

When it comes to transgender, I am getting there, but it is challenging. I can accept that a small percentage of the population has a gender identity that is different than that assigned to them at birth. How this should be handled is far beyond my level of knowledge or understanding.

Bruce Jenner was at one time the greatest male athlete in the world. Why would he come out as transgender at the age of 65? I think this is something most of us will never understand and I don’t think we have to. What we do need to do is respect the individual, respect their individual rights and freedoms, and know that they equal in the eyes of God and under our Constitution.

At Gateway Pundit I saw several comments that said Caitlyn Jenner can’t be a Conservative, that Conservatism rejects homosexuality and transgenderism. Many comments were much more vicious than these. I suggested these people do a little research and discover what Conservatism actually is.

The tenets of Conservatism from the Reagan.com website:

• The right to privacy: Conservative values often place emphasis on the need for Americans to be able to live freely, without influence from the government or media. Lately, this has been evidenced in conservative support for privacy on the Internet.
• Self-defense: Many right-leaning Americans agree that the nation’s future is contingent upon protecting itself from domestic and foreign threats.
• Justice: All Americans deserve to live freely and equally.
• Limited government: Most top conservative values are driven by the idea that America functions best when its citizens can govern themselves, with limited influence from the federal government.
• Self-help: Conservatives recognize that Americans have the capacity to lift themselves out of negative situations and should invest in self-improvement instead of relying on government or other sources.
• Hard work: Each American has an obligation to invest in and contribute to society.
• The value of the free market: Competition drives growth and progress, according to top conservative values.
• Pride in country: Conservatives believe patriotism should be a natural part of each American’s life.
• Opposition to special interests: The government and its leaders should operate independently of pressure from special interest groups.
• Sanctity of the Constitution: Our nation’s founding fathers were guided by a core set of principles when they laid down the framework for the country, and those goals should continue to be upheld, according to conservatives.

The tenets of Conservatism from Russell Kirk:

• First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order. That order is made for man, and man is made for it: human nature is a constant, and moral truths are permanent.
• Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.
• Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.
• Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.
• Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety
• Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.
• Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.
• Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.
• Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.
• Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.

I could continue listing the tenets of Conservatism as espoused by current and former leaders in Conservative thought and not one would include being a racist, a homophobe, a bigot, or treating anyone as a lesser person. What the Conservatives have stood for in the past was both individual liberty and civil liberty. Somehow, we have lost our way and allowed the Democrats to lay claim to being the champion of civil liberties when history shows it was the Republicans who most often championed civil liberties, and we need to do so again.

And before someone says I am saying that we need quotas and preferential treatment, I am not saying that and am opposed to it. What I am for is ensuring that every American citizen has an equal opportunity and is equal under the law.