I am NOT a liberal
Several of the blogs I read have nice quotes in their sidebars about what some other blogger has said about them. Quotes from Glenn Reynolds seem popular for some reason. Probably because it is like having an autograph from the President or something. My husband had a nice suggestion for me that I am still contemplating:
Glenn Reynolds linked to me...once.
Today, however, I found a nice quote that I think is worthy of sticking in my sidebar. So I will. Here it is in its entirety:
WELCOME: Crabby greetings to our visitors from the Principled Discovery blog. We here at The Shack appreciate the kind words from Dana, who is living proof that you can be fairly liberal and still rational about the way life works. Be sure to pop over there and check out her 2nd Carnival of Principled Government. A little home-schooling goes a long ways.
Fairly liberal? I've been called a number of things since making an online presence...a liar, the whore of Babylon, a wingnut (how creative), a right wing Christian fundamentalist (which, I suppose is true, but does carry with it a certain negative connotation) and one person accused me of "fake Christian semiotic meditation." That, I think, was the strangest insult I have ever received.

But this is the first time I have been called liberal. At all. For anyone harboring any doubts, I am a conservative. Very staunchly so. I used to consider myself a Republican. Recently, however, I have been feeling a bit like Reagan when he said he didn't leave the Democratic party; it left him. I never left the Republican Party, but I wonder where all the Republicans went.

Just to be sure, however, I shall measure myself against the conservative principles laid out by Russell Kirk whose book, The Conservative Mind, “gave American conservatives an identity and a genealogy and catalyzed the postwar movement.”
First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.
Check.
Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.
Pretty much so, check.
Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.
You'll have to read the explanation provided in the essay, but yes, I hold that to be fairly true. That is why I said recently that I think I'm 200 years behind in my political thinking. Most of my political thought was shaped by people who died before my great-grandparents were born.
Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.
Check.
Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.
Check.
Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.
Tempered check. I do not believe that we could ever get to a utopia so there would be no need to worry about expiring of boredom. The nature of man is such that we would fall into tyranny long before any desirable effect of utopian ideals could be realized.
Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.
Check and double check.
Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.
Again, check and double check. I reject radical individualism and believe I have a personal responsibility to my neighbor. That, however, is very different from forced redistribution of wealth through the various social programs our government has become involved in.
Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.
Definitely.
Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.
More so if you read the accompanying explanation, but yes that, too, is true.

So, I think that if Russel Kirk would call me a conservative, I must be one. Even if Joe disagrees. But that is ok. I have to like Joe because he doesn't live all that far from me and I am fairly certain he is "packing heat." And I enjoy his blog, even if he is a "psycho hillbilly." (No, he's not, but I couldn't resist.)

I don't normally speak too much on political topics outside the subject of education, but should anyone else be harboring any doubts or have any questions, feel free to ask. Comments are open for any questions about what my uninformed opinion is on any topic.

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