An Open Letter to My Father and Mentor

The following is a repost of an open letter I wrote five months ago explaining my rationale for defining myself as a "true independent conservative."  Out of this letter came my Conservative Manifesto.


While I have dropped the adjective true, as its use is subjective, the essence of my self described "independent conservatism" remains intact and defines my politics if you will, and my basic philosophy of governance.


On the heals of recent accusations made with respect to my principals and beliefs by one who objects to my individualism I felt it appropriate to run this again. I am sure the person who referred to me as a "Brown Shirt", and a "Right Wing Reactionary" among other false identifiers still won't get it. And the purpose is not to try and change the mind of this individual. It is to hopefully reinforce the principals that I believe made this nation the greatest on earth.


And now, "An Open Letter To My Father and Mentor." One whom I salute as an America's Patriot.

The question you asked, why I call myself a true independent conservative is difficult to explain and perhaps more difficult to understand. But since you asked I will give it a try:

In general the Republican party is considered to represent conservatism and therefore conservatives. The present day Republican party is not the party of conservatism. The party of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan more closely represented true conservatism than todays so called conservatives.

For a term (or concept) to have real meaning it must be founded on a concrete set of principals. Now here is where it gets tricky, at least for me to explain. As conservatism is generally defined as the desire to maintain the status-quo , or perhaps even to revert to prior held principals I guess neither of us would be a conservative by that definition.

However, my conservatism (which would be considered progressive, no make that radical, 250 years ago) is founded in principals that are rational, proven, and timeless. I consider the principals of true independent modern day conservatism to be the belief in;

A) Limited government with authority granted to it as enumerated in our Constitution

B) A true free market economy, that is to say laissez-faire capitalism

C) A judiciary (Supreme Court) that interprets law from a strict constructionist view rather than legislating from the bench. That is to say make law by judicial fiat.

D) A legislative branch that recognizes their responsibility is to the people and not their own corrupt political interests

E) A government that recognizes the rights of the individual always, and by necessity exceeds the rights of any collective

F) A government that views its mandate to tax the citizenry as limited to funding the proper role of government, not every flavor of social program that happen to come along

G) A government that recognizes the value of borders, language, and culture and insures we do not lose ours through multiculturalism

H) A government that recognizes the only appropriate use of deadly force is in the defense of our borders and our people

I) A government that protects the rights of everyone to free thought and speech, not just those that agree with the government

J) A government that insures it's citizens are protected from crimes against their person or property, and when necessary administers proper and effective punishment

K) A government that invests in the actual education of it's citizens rather than the politically correct brainwashing going on in academia today

I think I have given you enough so as to understand what I view as true independent conservatism. I suspect these principals are ones you hold as foundations of your philosophy and life as well. If you do, you are in my view, a true independent conservative by modern definition.

Here's the catch Dad, what I have described here is not at all conservative. It is as radical as it was 233 years ago when our nation was founded on these radical ideas. Our nation has spent most of the last 110 years trying to get back to a system not unlike that which it rightfully rebelled against. Today we stand a very real chance of losing that which we won those many long years ago. I fear this today more than ever because I believe our President does not understand these basic truths.

So in closing; I use the terminology "true independent conservative" because most people would think me crazy if I used the correct term to describe my politics.

Les Carpenter III

Rational Nation USA