Conservatism- I can live with

A conservative is not someone who has to be ignored. It will look a lot different once you hear what he/she is proposing. There will be a lot of disagreements but when you take a step back and not be biased, there are things we liberals can learn and include in our philosophy that matter and are helpful to make our lives better.

Conservatives come from a traditionalist point of view- going back to the bible, to the constitution and the way they look at life. I may not be able to go through every line of their belief system but I am taking some to highlight that I deem important.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility. They don’t believe that people should be receiving handouts forever. They believe that it makes them dependent by taking away their motivation to get better. Being poor is not a sin nor are they condemned people. They believe that Private Organizations and Charities must deal with the needs of poor. The Government can help organize but not get involved. Till now, I am comfortable with the arguments made. I am starting to think what is it that I differ.

Our country provides many types of help based on the poverty and socioeconomic factors. It helps to put a roof over the head, food on the table and provides basic necessities to have a life. There are many loopholes that people capitalize and end up benefitting, which are taken away from the ones who really need and drains the pockets of many hard working Americans who support by paying more taxes. This leads to discontent, anger, takes away the empathy and some fall into the trap of those who have no regard for the dignity of existing human life but proclaim that they are pro life, giving them a cover and a buffer to separate themselves from the sufferings of those in need.

How can one compromise. As a liberal, I don’t want to see anyone suffer. I don’t want the Government to stop being involved. My fear is that once the Government walks away, the rich will become richer, the poor will remain poor, mor sufferings will come to the forefront, and someone like me can feel sorry and get hurt but nothing much can be done. The words that compassionate conservatism as described to be the ones who are conservatives but also feel sorry and wouldn’t want to do anything else keeps ringing in my ears.

Let us discuss line by line of the conservative philosophy as stated by me. Personal Responsibility is not a bad word. We always expect of our children to make their bed, take their clothes to the laundry room, clean up after playing, go to school, get good grades, avoid doing drugs, be in good company, respect the elders, don’t drink and drive, speak the truth. All these are a part of personal responsibility we expect of our children. We might not succeed every time but we have expectations, we understand our children when they are tired after a school game or when they are sick and we don’t hesitate to help them, not give chores, help clean up their room, sit with them to help with their homework and even go for parent teacher meetings to measure their progress. We do play our part when it comes to our children to help them develop personal responsibility.

I am looking at the poor,with what I have come to understand by my personal experience and also through the profession where I have great access to peoples heart and soul. There are changes the society needs to make and the individual who is a part of the society should take the lead. Both waiting for the other to take the lead is not even going to start the process.

All of us don’t want to suffer. That is a given. Poor are the ones who have been born under difficult circumstances, don’t often have a two parent home, raised in poor neighborhoods where expectations are low, survival becomes the norm, values are undermined, motivation is a lost word, and learn to rap as the ones who used them to get out of the status quo, spent long hours on a local council provided basket ball court not understanding that very few make it to the NBA, teenage sex not seen as any different than getting to eat in a good restaurant as monitoring becomes difficult to a parent who works two or three jobs or to a parent who is on drugs. A ten year old becomes the mother or father to other young siblings, goes to school for a break from the daily chores expected of them, without breakfast and the priorities become different- from learning to get educated to keeping his or her siblings safe and taking care of their needs.

How do we handle this kind of a scenario I presented. It is overwhelming to begin with. It is difficult to find a starting point. Can we give up?

More to come.