Conservatism

The local paper had excerpts from an article written by a John Mark Reynolds, head of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, commenting on Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech two weeks ago and how it squares with conservatism. I think he misunderstands conservatism, or worse, seeks to redefine it. Let it be known that not only did I listen to that speech, I listen to Rush everyday, have done so for over six years and am proud of it. Yes, I am biased, but I have the ability to take what Rush says in context. Judging by the very nature of this essay, I will assume that Mr. Reynolds does not daily listen to Rush. The theme of his essay is that true conservatism requires external checks and balances (hereafter C&B), more specifically federal government fiscal C&B. I contend that fiscal C&B are inherent to conservatism.

Conservatism does not advocate that the federal government is evil and must be abolished. Conservatism champions government when it follows the pact between it and the people, i.e. our Constitution. Conservativism is the belief that the primary role of government is the defense of its citizens against physical harm. The writers of this document were God-fearing men who understood the nature of mankind, including, yes, their sinful nature but also the yearning to be free. They were also keenly aware of the evils of excessive government; they lived under one until the Revolutionary War. It actually took two attempts to strike the right balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of society, and it has served our nation well for over 220 years. It has resulted in the freest, most prosperous, most powerful nation in the world...at least for now. What conservatism advocates, however, is freedom, self-determination and the rolling back of unconstitutional federal government, of excessive fiscal C&B, which I believe has resulted in our current economic woes.

It's easy and popular to lay at the feet of fiscal conservatism, or capitalism, the current economic crisis. Mr. Reynolds says that conservatism's vision of "unfettered human potential and complete trust in corporate America" is disturbing in light of the current economic crisis. How does unfettered human potential and complete trust in corporate America look? Is it not you, me and millions of others being allowed to use our God-given abilities and voluntarily exchange goods, services and money? You can certainly dwell on the bad actors, such as Enron or Madoff, to advocate more fiscal C&B. I believe that Enron had great leaders with great ideas at their beginning and for most of their existence. They provided goods and services people wanted or needed. I believe Madoff had at least the skills to do the same; he certainly was a good salesman. At some point, however, they lost sight of truly serving their fellow man, which is one of our highest callings in life. They took the quick and easy route to financial security whether they "cooked the books" or ran a Ponzi scheme. Yes, unfortunately many people lost money in these situations, but is that a reason to lay on the backs of every other American and American company more regulation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (which some of its original proponents in Congress have called into question) as well as more taxation? Are these fiscal C&B not simply barriers to the voluntary exchange of goods, services and money and possibly even a cause of some of the bad actors? These bad actors should be punished with laws written in accordance with the spirit of government's secondary role of defending liberty and the pursuit of happiness. People should be free to do as they please as long as they don't infringe on another person's liberty and pursuit of happiness. However, will not an informed public learn from these mistakes and avoid, or at least be cautious of, such entities in the future? What happened to personal responsibility and learning from mistakes? I don't have to tell my son not to touch the BBQ grill anymore ever since he burned himself on it a few years ago or tell him not to play with fire after he nearly burned up my back yard last summer. The school of hard knocks is the best teacher. (Back to Madoff, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. When the DJIA has an average annual ROR of 12% over its 70+ year life but someone shows and promises twice that or more, let the buyer beware.)

I believe the root cause of this crisis is over-regulation of the financial system of this country by the federal government. When banks are forced to make loans to people who cannot repay them, they are doomed to fail sooner or later. Banks do not naturally want to do this. Who can blame them? Why is it wrong to check someone's credit history and income and disqualify them if they cannot be expected to repay a loan? Consider this: should apartment's be forced to forgo checking credit histories of potential tenants before giving them the keys? Government does not require them to run background checks; they naturally do this. This is the conservative thing to do. This is what Rush advocated at CPAC and advocates daily on his show. Mankind's inherent self-interest, mistakenly called greed, includes fiscal C&B. However, the federal government can force apartments to forgo this process in the name of "fairness" which was the reasoning behind their fiscal C&B and which ultimately caused the banking system to collapse.

Finally, I agree that the world is full of sinful people. We will always have in our midst those who take advantage of others. Let me assure you that if they do not answer for it in this life, they will in the next life; God is not mocked. However, no amount of external, fiscal C&B will purge sin or "unfairness" from society. Those who think so are living in a dream world or desire it. What makes the fiscal C&B of the federal government, also composed of sinful people, any better than the fiscal C&B of the individual? Some politicans may have good intentions, but others simply want control over people's lives. I believe that as long as this country remains true to its founding Judeo-Christian, conservative principles, external, fiscal C&B are not needed at least not to the extent they currently exist.

Hopefully, people will realize this before we lose the republic and become servants of government.