Nancy Morgan is a cloumnist and news editor for conservative news site RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

For too long, conservatives have allowed the left to define them. With more Americans becoming disillusioned with Obama, it’s time to counter the media’s portrayal of conservatives as radical, illegitimate extremists, concerned only with amassing wealth and kicking gays. Here’s a quick guide to help identify the basic differences between leftists and conservatives.

Conservatives understand that the system of capitalism is the greatest engine of wealth creation the world has ever known. They don’t think profit is a dirty word. Leftists argue that feelings, not the bottom line, should be the motivating factor in all of life’s decisions.

Conservatives believe that a man’s fate is determined by the life choices he makes. Leftists believe if they’re not successful, its because racist capitalists are hogging all the wealth. And that’s not fair!

Conservatives know that life isn’t fair and never will be. Leftists think that it should be, and that if you vote for them, they can legislate fairness. After they redefine it.

Conservatives know that throwing money at a problem usually ends up making the problem worse. Leftists believe that money can solve any problem. Preferably someone else’s money.

Conservatives believe Thomas Sowell’s assertion that there are no solutions – there are only trade-offs. Leftists believe that there are still free lunches, that rights trump responsibilities, and victims are more ‘valid’ than producers. And if you don’t agree, you’re just a big ol’ meanie.

Conservatives applaud merit. Leftists applaud intentions. Conservatives believe words have meanings. Leftists believe they have the right to redefine whatever words they care to.

Leftists believe if a theory looks good on paper, it will work. Conservatives understand that reality doesn’t work that way, except in ivory towers.

Conservatives know that, these days, government is the problem. Leftists believe more government is the solution. And they will willingly create and/or exacerbate a crisis in order to prove it. (See link)

Conservatives believe in accountability, that actions speak louder than words. Leftists have succumbed to the herd mentality that sanctions bad behavior as long as it is done in the name of whichever leftist policy is most popular, be it global warming or the belief that everything bad that happens to the Obama administration is George Bush’s fault.

Conservatives believe in individual rights, not group rights. They know that leftist words like ‘social justice,’ diversity’, and multiculturalism, whose meanings are purely subjective, are used to divide, instill guilt, and put conservatives in the impossible position of having to spend their lives proving a negative.

Most conservatives believe in the rule of God. Leftists prefer the rule of man. As long as they are the man.

Leftists believe that life is a zero sum game. If someone wins, that means that someone has lost. They believe there are only so many pieces of the pie and the more pie someone has means someone out there has less. Conservatives know that this is just not so.

Conservatives are more inclined to do what they feel is right, even when no-one is looking. Leftists prefer to have their compassion recorded, preferably by TV cameras.

Leftists actually believe that world peace is possible. And the only thing standing in the way are those darn conservatives who have earned more money than they have a right to. Conservatives meanwhile, know that the utopia the left envisions is neither realistic nor possible. Thus they focus their efforts on more attainable goals, like making a living, raising their families and contributing to their communities.

Conservatives know that, no matter how thin the pancake, there are always two sides. Leftists have been taught that their side is the only legitimate side and any other point of view is invalid because it is motivated solely by hate, racism, homophobia, or greed. End of story.

It is very easy to concentrate on what divides us instead of the many more things that unite us, as this author is doing. But neither leftists or conservatives can refute the fact that we are all Americans. And I choose to believe that all of us want what we think is best for our country. We just disagree on the way to achieve it.

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for conservative news site RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

This article was originally published on Sept. 18 in the Washington Examiner

House Chamber, Washington, D.C.  May 20, 2010.  M. Speaker:

I rise to take strong exception to the speech of the President of Mexico while in this chamber today.

The Mexican government has made it very clear for many years that it holds American sovereignty in contempt and President Calderon’s behavior as a guest of the Congress confirms and underscores this attitude.

It is highly inappropriate for the President of Mexico to lecture Americans on American immigration policy, just as it would be for Americans to lecture Mexico on its laws.

It is obvious that President Calderon does not understand the nature of America or the purpose of our immigration law.

Unlike Mexico’s immigration law — which is brutally exclusionary — the purpose of America’s law is not to keep people out.   It is to assure that as people come to the United States, they do so with the intention of becoming Americans and of raising their children as Americans.

Unlike Mexico, our nation embraces immigration and what makes that possible is assimilation.

A century ago President Teddy Roosevelt put it this way.  He said:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

That is how we have built one great nation from the people of all the nations of the world.

The largest group of immigrants now comes from Mexico.  A recent RAND study discovered that during most of the 20th Century, while our immigration laws were actually enforced, assimilation worked and made possible the swift attainment of the American dream for millions of immigrants seeking to escape conditions in Mexico.

That is the broader meaning of our nation’s motto, “E Pluribus Unum” – from many people, one people, the American people.

But there is now an element in our political structure that seeks to undermine that concept of “E Pluribus Unum.”  It seeks to hyphenate Americans, to develop linguistic divisions, to assign rights and preferences based on race and ethnicity, and to elevate devotion to foreign ideologies and traditions, while at the same time denigrating American culture, American values and American founding principles.

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In order to do so, they know that they have to stop the process of assimilation.  In order to do that, they must undermine our immigration laws.

It is an outrage that a foreign head of state would appear in this chamber and actively seek to do so.  And it is a disgrace that he would be cheered on from the left wing of the White House and by many Democrats in this Congress.

Arizona has not adopted a new immigration law.  All it has done is to enforce existing law that President Obama refuses to enforce.  It is hardly a radical policy to suggest that if an officer on a routine traffic stop encounters a driver with no driver’s license, no passport, and who doesn’t speak English, that maybe that individual might be here illegally.

And to those who say we must reform our immigration laws – I reply that we don’t need to reform them – we need to enforce them.  Just as every other government does.  Just as Mexico does.

Above all, this is a debate of, by and for the American people.  If President Calderon wishes to participate in that debate, I invite him to obey our immigration laws, apply for citizenship, do what 600,000 LEGAL immigrants to our nation are doing right now, learn our history and our customs, and become an American.  And then he will have every right to participate in that debate.

Until then, I would politely invite him to have the courtesy while a guest of this Congress to abide by the fundamental rules of diplomacy between civilized nations not to meddle in each other’s domestic debates.