More on the Bankruptcy of Conservatism

I admit, I'm pretty hard on Conservatives. At least with Liberals, you find honesty in the principles that guide their actions. They love government, they think government can do wonderful things, and they want to expand government as much as possible, so as to create a better society.

Not so with Conservatives, who claim to want small government, personal liberty, and individual responsibilty - yet, work at every turn to justify government encroachment of basic liberties, while consolidating and expanding Big Government programs. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll find them advocating new programs, while claiming they'll make government smaller.

This morning, Lew Rockwell wrote a great article called The Conservative Hoax.

The problem with American conservatism is that it hates the left more than the state, loves the past more than liberty, feels a greater attachment to nationalism than to the idea of self-determination, believes brute force is the answer to all social problems, and thinks it is better to impose truth rather than risk losing one soul to heresy. It has never understood the idea of freedom as a self-ordering principle of society. It has never seen the state as the enemy of what conservatives purport to favor. It has always looked to presidential power as the saving grace of what is right and true about America.

When I die, I want to be reincarnated as Lew Rockwell.