Conservative = Christian?

One thing that's been on my mind lately is the shift in thinking in what the word Conservative means. One quote by Marc9000 in the "separation of church and state" thread struck me EvC Forum: Separation of church and stateIt seems to me he was talking about his Christian views and not Conservatives. Is this common and is this what most think a Conservative is now?There is no doubt the Republican party has wrapped itself around Religion and every election Cycle it becomes more and more apparent. Issues in most elections have become about Christian beliefs and "morals"What does this mean for a two party System? How is this possibly a good thing for the political climate?I suspect this is one of the reasons the Democratic party is incapable of rallying around anything. Multiple views are all crammed into a single party. If you support Gay rights or support Full Separation of Church you're magically a democrat "Liberal" when this is obviously far from the truth.

Probably. That's not quite correct. The Republicans went after the right wing religious voters. They also tried to pick up the racist vote. They now seem to be going after the anti-islamic bigotry vote, too.There are conservatives among the Democrats. They tend to be fiscal conservatives, rather than religious conservatives. I am beginning to suspect that the nation is doomed, though I sure hope I am wrong. The Republican party seems to be so consumed with hatred and negativism, that they seem to be willing to allow the nation to fail as a step toward achieving their agenda.

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Jesus was a liberal hippie

The meaning of concervative is to conserve the status quo. It is a relative word. In Saudi Arabia it would mean to conserve Sharia and Quranic principles. In Russia it would mean to conserve totalitarian socialistic principles. In the US it would mean to conserve the Judeo-Christian principles and the Constitutional republic based largely upon Biblical principles.Since the founders founded a republic (republican) and not a democracy (democrat) the tennants of the Republicans has traditionally been more conservative than those of the Democrats.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

Yet these ideas weren't huge with Republicans until recently Buzz.... Perhaps this isn't the case? Yet the republicans constantly scream about "The will of the People" and majority rules. This is evident with The Prop 8. decision.. I think you need to look at how you define these things again.

So the status quo that the founders meant to conserve included slavery and no votes for women?

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Life is like a Hot Wheels car. Sometimes it goes behind the couch and you can't find it.

Ringo asks of Buzzsaw: Yes, I don't think Dr. M.L.King would have characterized himself as a conservative. But Christian? Oh yeah, all the way, baby.Indeed, what I, a mere commie pinko kneejerk libtard socialist feminist atheist croquet player, want to conserve the most is that aspect of the constitution of the U.S. government that allows it to change and morph into new forms when needed. This ability to change has to be preserved at all costs. On that I am very conservative! However, there may be several things that should not be changed (changing the word "men" to "intelligent life forms" is certainly okay with me, but all are still endowed with those certain inalienable rights - no matter what changes they try to make).OT: Anybody for Nomic?OT: Mornington Crescent?

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- xongsmith, 5.7d

Since 1980, the conservatives have been working to destroy the status quo.

Conservatives used to be what we would call fiscal conservatives.Then Nixon went after the religious "conservatives" from the south, and brought them into the Republican party. Prior that they were almost all democrats.Now they are taking over the Republican party, and pretending that they are the real, and the only, conservatives.Some of them would just as soon see a theocracy as long as their faction was the one in charge.

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Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.

First of all, two past evcforum.net "conservatism" topics: What is a "Real Conservative"? - The American Conservative magazine
What is a Liberal, and What is a Conservative?A couple of (gag me) Conservapedia pages (after all, they should know what they are):http://conservapedia.com/Paleoconservative
http://conservapedia.com/NeoconservativeOddly enough, their currently expressed views on neoconseratives seem to be that they are liberals in disguise (or something like that).Now, my short opinion on fiscal conservativism:I think that the pre-Reagan fiscal conservative was one who believed in government spending money wisely.But what grew out of Reaganomics was not so much to spend wisely but rather to just be cheap. To not spend money, even if it would be wise to do such on certain things, such as maintaining the public infrastructure. Alas, this cheapness does not extend towards the sacred cow that is the military-industrial complex.See also that all important quotation I put in my "signature".Moose

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Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U
Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.

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"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

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"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

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"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien

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"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose

If those are the tenants of the Republican Party, does that make them the lessor of two evils?

You do realize that these are just names don't you. The original name of the Democratic Party, was the Democratic-Republican Party and they were the anti-Federalists. During the Civil War they were the party of the status-quo.The Republican Party wasn't founded til just prior to the Civil War and were hardly the Party of the staus quo. Lincoln was a Republican.Again, Buz you have shown a complete lack of grasp of reality. Everything can not be boiled down to a simplistic view.

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

Buz, you do know that Russia is a democracy don't you? Republic or democracy have nothing to do with political parties. Your second point is equally untrue. Do you know as little about the GOP as you do about the Bible?Traditionally it has been the Republicans that have called for Universal Health Care, controls on drugs, labeling and false advertising, bringing unions to the table as full partners in negotiations, placing limits on business practices, creating the Environmental Protection Agency, indexing Social Security, requiring minority participation in government contracts...shall I go on?See this thread over at Dreamcatcher.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

WOW!!!How badly did you fail US History and Government?The founders did not start a pure republic or a pure democracy. They started a Representative Democratic-Republic. The original intent was to take pieces of the early Roman and Greek political systems and create a balance.The founders understood that a democracy would be overbearing requiring citizens to vote on every single action. It would be tumultuous and short-lived. They also realized that the original Roman republic was appointed by only a few powerful citizens and fell to corruption and eventually tyranny. So they blended the two. We democraticly vote for representatives to handle our republic.I also don't understand how you could be so STUPID about the history of political parties. The Republican party DID NOT even exist at the framing of the Constitution.

Yes, Dr Adequate, the Republicans have emmerged into nothing but the lesser of the two evils. GO un-official TEA PARTY!

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

It's a joke. Tenants ... lessor ...Did anyone get it? Oh, them. Do you favor the Mad Hatter or the March Hare wing of the movement?