Is Bush a Conservative

[tripp0807]

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Can you please point me to any elected officals who are real conservatives?

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I think Rick Santorum, the Republican Senator from PA (who, incidentally, may not be around too much longer with Bob Casey, Jr. running for his spot) would qualify.

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If you can't, can you point me to any think tank/policy organization that is conservative?

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Pretty good list above.

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Actually, can you point me to a working definition of conservatism that you guys all agree on?

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It used to be about small government and personal responsibility, but I'm not too sure anymore...

[HtotheNootch]

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Can you please point me to any elected officals who are real conservatives?

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The Great Ron Paul of Texas.

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Can you please point me to any elected officals who are real conservatives?

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The Great Ron Paul of Texas.

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I've heard Ron Paul considers himself to be a libertarian.

Bush is a disgrace to the conservative label. Barry Goldwater is rolling over in his grave.

[tolbiny]

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Bush is a disgrace

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I agree.

[sweetjazz]

The term 'conservative' is a complicated label. Bush's version of conservatism is very different than previous notions of conservatism. Bush believes in the involvement of the federal government at levels much higher than most conservatives have in the past. It would be fair, I believe, to say that Bush is not a fiscal conservative (even though he's made statements to the contrary...his actions speak louder than his rhetoric here in my opinion).

On the other hand, Bush can accurately be labeled as a social conservative. The basic values and priorities on social issues that he has are what lead working class conservatives to support him.

I don't think the fact that the term 'conservative' is in some ways accurate and in some ways inaccurate to describe George W. Bush is any more problematic than the term 'liberal' is in some ways accurate and in some ways inaccurate to describe Hillary Clinton.

Given how much Bush has had to deal with, it would be shocking if all of his decisions could be simply boxholed into a single ideology or philosophy.

[Beer and Pizza]

Bush hates white people. He sent that hurricane to New Orleans which disproportiionately killed white people.

How can we keep this obvious racist in office?

By the way, this was mentioned last night in the thread that got locked, the second or third thread about "liberals" that has been locked recently. Why wasn't this thread about conservatives treated the same way? I guess only threads about the negative aspects of liberalism deserve locking.

[Andrew Fletcher]

It is a conspiracy designed to destroy Christmas. Even 2+2 is in on the war against the most powerful political movement in America.

I find that a lot of people really have no idea of what the words conservative and liberal actually mean. Don't be distorted by what people say they are either. In politics you can't say person A is conservative, person B is liberal and neccesarily be able to judge what they actually believe in. A British conservative is likely to be far more leftwing and liberal than your average US republican for example. By European standards there is little social democracy preached let alone socialism in the US. The democrats if they were to stand for elections in Britain would probably have to put themselves to the right of our conservative party.

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Is Bush still a conservative this morning? It is conservative to spy on Americans and completely ignore the bill of rights?

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Conservative doesn't come into it at all. It is authoritarian , and the sort of policy that comes from those who do not trust their own people. Authoritarianism can come from the left or right. The natural place for them to end up, if allowed by a countrys political system, is as a dictator. Of course most democracy's have seperation of powers, but I have seen exmples recently both in Britain and the US of moves by those in power to undermine this important principle.

[WillMagic]

It's funny how the meaning of liberalism has changed over the years. At the beginning of the twentieth century, being a liberal meant favoring laissez-faire economic policies and personal choice...the basic elements of liberty. But the socialists co-opted the word liberal and applied it to their economic policies, and suddenly laissez-faire became a conservative policy.

Will