That word has been on my mind lately. Ok, maybe not the word but the concept. We hear that word a lot these days. It's usually referring to politics but not always.
This is where I don't cite Webster or any other dictionary in regard to the definition of the word. So many others would do that at this point. I'm not faulting someone else for doing so. It's just not my thing. Following a familiar pattern can be conservative but not always.
In fact, I don't think we need to address what a conservative is. I think that is a a common problem facing Americans today. Too many assume that a conservative is an adherent to the platform of the Republican Party. This line of thinking would lead anyone to believe that a pickup truck with a "Romney/Ryan 2012" bumper sticker would automatically belong to a Conservative. you could follow this line of reasoning that anyone living in reasonable social acceptance in a "Red State" would be a conservative.
However, regardless of what the bumper sticker is on your car says, Wal-Mart is not conservative. Wearing your pajamas to Wal-Mart (or anywhere else further from home than your mailbox) is certainly not conservative. Using profanity in public, or in front of women or children, is not conservative. Coal ash in a North Carolina river is not conservative. Doing anything with the planned intention of offending liberals is not conservative.
These are the sorts of thing my great-grandmother would identify as "common". They are beneath the dignity of a lady or a gentleman. This is not a haughty or arrogant stance. It is a statement of fact about the expectations of someone with "home training". There is no rule or law to force a certain code of behavior because there doesn't have to be. A gentleman is a representative of himself, his family and any other group that he finds himself affiliated with and his behavior reflects on each and every one of them.
So if you climb down out of your pick up truck in your pajamas and use the common tongue to enquire about the overhead contents of your allegedly Oedipal acquaintance on the other side of the parking lot while some poor lady tries to shield her kids from your behavior and get them safely inside, your Republican bumper sticker doesn't make you conservative. It makes you a barbarian with a Republican bumper sticker.
Yes, I understand that you're a "grown man" and that you don't care what the opinions of others matter. I know its a free country and you can do what you want. And you're right about all of that. But a true conservative understands that his "right" or "ability" to do such things never sets him apart from anyone else. That's right, anyone can do those things. But restraint is an art. Dignity is a gift. And there's no rule that says you should lower your standards to behave in a manner that is beneath you.
Other things inaccurately portrayed as conservative: Abraham Lincoln, The Pledge of Allegiance, war & cheap beer.
But those are stories for another day...
However, regardless of what the bumper sticker is on your car says, Wal-Mart is not conservative. Wearing your pajamas to Wal-Mart (or anywhere else further from home than your mailbox) is certainly not conservative. Using profanity in public, or in front of women or children, is not conservative. Coal ash in a North Carolina river is not conservative. Doing anything with the planned intention of offending liberals is not conservative.
These are the sorts of thing my great-grandmother would identify as "common". They are beneath the dignity of a lady or a gentleman. This is not a haughty or arrogant stance. It is a statement of fact about the expectations of someone with "home training". There is no rule or law to force a certain code of behavior because there doesn't have to be. A gentleman is a representative of himself, his family and any other group that he finds himself affiliated with and his behavior reflects on each and every one of them.
So if you climb down out of your pick up truck in your pajamas and use the common tongue to enquire about the overhead contents of your allegedly Oedipal acquaintance on the other side of the parking lot while some poor lady tries to shield her kids from your behavior and get them safely inside, your Republican bumper sticker doesn't make you conservative. It makes you a barbarian with a Republican bumper sticker.
Yes, I understand that you're a "grown man" and that you don't care what the opinions of others matter. I know its a free country and you can do what you want. And you're right about all of that. But a true conservative understands that his "right" or "ability" to do such things never sets him apart from anyone else. That's right, anyone can do those things. But restraint is an art. Dignity is a gift. And there's no rule that says you should lower your standards to behave in a manner that is beneath you.
Other things inaccurately portrayed as conservative: Abraham Lincoln, The Pledge of Allegiance, war & cheap beer.
But those are stories for another day...
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