What being conservative means to me

To many people the word Conservative is synonymous with Stupid, and there are many conservatives who seem to do everything in their power to confirm this. I think the main issue is the lumping together of the terms Religious and Right. While yes I'm religious, and yes I lean to the right, they're not connected in my case. Conservative does not refer to my morality, I'm perfectly OK with women wearing pants for instance.

For many the decision to go left or right is reached by one of two issues. Gay marriage and Abortion. You can almost cut cleanly down the party line on those issues because Politicians pander to their demographics. Therefor almost anyone with strong religious values will instantly rally to the right, regardless of where the candidate stands on other far more important issues, like say the Constitution. These things should be as far away from politics as possible, they have nothing to do with it, yet its often the first question asked of anyone running for any substantial office. Both are moral issues and should under no circumstances whatsoever be decided by the government. If it really must be decided put it to a public vote at the state or even county level and let the people decide. That's the only way any moral decision should be made, on an individual basis. Enough about what's not conservative, on to why I am.

There are several key items I feel represent my political philosophy. Small Government, Adherence to the Constitution as a very literal document, and American sovereignty. All three of which are polar opposite from our current administration but that deserves its own article. The first two are fairly obvious but the third may be a little vague to some. What I mean is that America should decide how things go in America. Our immigration policy should not need to meet the standards of a visiting diplomat. The UN does not get to decide which amendments are valid. All that jazz.

So thank you Fox News and crazy Tea Party members for so poorly representing our movement, and for muddling our shared goals with so much nonsense and scripture quoting. I'll be over here using my religious beliefs for personal decisions and basing my politics on actual issues.