The Closet Conservative

I am listening to a replay of the Rush Limbaugh radio show and something he said, concerning "independents" or "moderates" being the swing 20% of voters, those who really determine every election.

Rather than just being who they are and trying to use genuine passion and core beliefs, they're advised on language, approach, attitude, all kinds of things to go get the independents because there's something unsaid that accompanies this, that the independents are special people, because they're undecided. They are not closed-minded. See, ideologues, particularly on the right, conservative ideologies are said to be closed-minded, and along with that goes bigoted and racist and all of that. The independents, now, these are people, they can't be fooled. These people, they decide issue by issue. And I've always resented this whole construct because I've always thought, I've always known that moderate, slash, independent is simply another word for liberal, particularly moderate. Definitely moderate, another word for liberal. But now what's happened, these self-described independents -- and I know what some of you are saying, "Rush, shut up! Why do you want to offend the independents? Now they're on our side." I'm not trying to offend anybody. I'm just telling you what I think about this. Don't you understand, folks, I understand about winning elections, but nobody can ever make me believe that elections are only about 20% of this population. I'm never going to believe that. I don't care what kind of seasoned professional who has made it his life's work to win elections tells me this. I'm not going to believe it, because more than 20% vote.

The whole segment can be read here but I wanted to throw this thought out: and I can say this because I had long-considered myself an "Independent". Now and for the past 7 years, I have called myself a Conservative and let me tell you, it ain't easy!

I don't align myself with the Republican party because I don't trust them to align themselves with US. They almost to a man align themselves with Democrats when the vote really counts, throughout these past 20 years. They have helped cause the mess we find ourselves when they turned their backs on the 1994 mid-term election mandate: Live within our means and balance the budget. Cut out all the pork and put America back to work.

They gradually saw the benefit of giving money to their constituents as a way to gain a vote. They sold out. They were BOTH angling to secure the growing Latino vote (that huge & growing voter base) and bet the farm they would be the one to win out but in the end, the Democrats got their vote. Why?

I believe that although the Latin community is family-based, hard-working and to a large degree religious, they did not want to associated with the Party that promotes this lifestyle. Who would want to?

The Mainstream Media, pundits and journalists, politicians and professors and Hollywood have successfully indoctrinated generations of Americans and Mixed Americans and would-be Americans that "Conservatives" are all Republicans and Republicans are all redneck, racist, God-fearing, gun-clinging, hate-mongers who live to build up their bank accounts and eat off the carcasses of the little guy and start wars for oil and snatch food out of the mouths of school-children while they beat them with Bibles and sleep with their secretaries! Oh yeah, and they destroy the environment and killed Bambi!

Everything else that is counter-culture to what used to be thought of as "Western Culture" needs to be tolerated. Husband-wife, 2.4 kids in the suburbs and the white picket fence? OUT! Live with 5 friends in an urban setting, hanging around and whining about your money-, boyfriend-, ex-wife-, job-seeking woes? IN! Father Knows Best. The hell he does; he's an idiot that can't open the fridge without rolling eyes and instructions from a long-suffering live-in gay room-mate with a monkey.

Today, the face of a pastor isn't Rev. Bill Graham, a man who has stood strong and solid for years while preaching the word of God...... no, no, no, the face that stands out from the crowd today is Fred Phelps, that lunatic who pickets funerals and jabs hate-filled signs in the air, screaming at the top of his lungs that the dead man is hated by the God he promotes. Or the other nutjob from Gainesville who thinks burning a Koran is somehow a good idea. This, while our military is trying and dying to change the hearts and minds of our ideological enemies.

I grew up thinking of Catholic fathers being something like Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley. He loved the fatherless boys and helped shape them into young stand-up men. Oh NO. We can't have that image today...... not only do we have to tear down Bing Crosby as a man and a father, you just KNOW what the Fathers were really doing at Boys Town, ALL of them. The ENTIRE Catholic Church are a vast pedophile playground. And the Boy Scouts, too!! But nothing of the sort can be considered to be occurring in OTHER all-men cloistered communities. Oh no. Don't go there; it wouldn't be politically correct to besmirch ___________s. You fill in that blank at your own peril.

The reason, I think, people would prefer to be thought of as "independent" is they don't want to be perceived as anything that the elites label "conservative". That all-inclusive word that paints a negative picture. Conservatives want peace, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, compassion for those who truly can't survive without assistance and mutual respect. We ARE NOT a caricature that THEY get to define. But they have successfully painted this onto the fabric of our lives.

No amount of denial from us has been accepted and we are standing here wondering what went wrong. We did the right thing. We grew up, got jobs, paid taxes, raised kids, paid more taxes, saved money, bought houses, took care of the houses, gave to charity, volunteered with the PTA, sat on the bleachers cheering the team on and we're the bad guy! Why?

Because we can't ever be seen as right, or right-ish. We are not thought of as moderate. If we are Conservative, we are Evil. If we are Conservative, we are predators. If we are Conservatives, we are the cause of all the problems in this country and this entire world.

Now, if you are not a Liberal Democrat but don't want to be thought of negatively, why would you EVER call yourself anything BUT an Independent. You might THINK like a Conservative, but you would never want to wear that heavy cloak.

You Are the Closet Conservative. And the last person still in hiding.