Conservatism 101

In light of financial issues, a good question was brought to me a few days ago about how a Christian like myself, who tries to show love and sacrifice of himself to give to others, could vote for conservatives, who, as the argument goes, promote greed and making the rich richer. The idea was I should be voting for liberals because they try to help the poor more. I thought it was a just question and a chance for me to remember myself why I vote the way I do. (It should be noted that the argument that conservatives don't care about the poor is false, but it is a line the democrats have successfully used for years and lots of people eat it up.) There are two main reasons I feel convicted to vote against liberal ideas of "helping the poor". First is an issue of ethics. I hate it that some people are poor and have a hard time making it and I'm all for programs to try to help that situation, but I don't think that makes it ethical for government to make arbitrary decisions of who has more than they need and demand that rich people cough up their earned money so it can be redistributed. That kind of thinking is contrary to the foundations of liberty and independence the country is founded on and again is extremely unethical. They can't play their own personal Robin Hood. And let me stress since this is touchy...it's not that I want people to stay poor. I hope the rich will choose to be very generous in giving to those who have less. But in the end, it is just that...it is their CHOICE. Forcing people into charity sounds awfully socialist to me. And that leads into the second reason I vote conservative on economic issues relating to social status. The second point is no form of socialism has ever worked throughout history, so why should it work now? No, I'm not calling liberals socialists or communists, but their ideas of wealth redistribution with central government control is actually getting pretty close to some aspects of socialism. And it has never ever ever worked. There's a reason for that. Theoretically and on paper, communism as a system is brilliant. But in practice it fails because the model doesn't account for humanity, which makes all the difference. Factors like reduced desire to work hard, lack of independence and personal dignity, and the inevitable corruption that accompanies absolute power name a few human components that have always made the system come crashing down, and I don't see liberal ideas of social equality (the nice term they use for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor) to be immune to those destructive forces. When the settlers of this country fled England and started things here, they intentionally and explicitly set up a system different from what they had come from, a system where the free market ruled and the government stayed out of the way. What was the result? We shot to the world power in a scant century and have been there ever since. So why liberals want to revert to the old way is beyond me. A strong free market and strong business sector doesn't eliminate the potential for poverty...neither does wealth redistribution in any form. But it does work out for the greatest good for the greatest numbers. I'll be back with more brilliance soon.