Redstate

I'd like to agree with you, but if that's our trinity, then Ron Paul is the most conservative person in the GOP race. Post 9/11 it strikes me that this trinity needs adjusting.

"The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions."

Let's see, Fred is 100% on taxes, 100% on guns, and 100% on life. I don't think Ron Paul is the only guy out there.

Of course, if you want certifiable ***ked in the head, then Ron Paul is your guy.

Have I told you about my Ron Paul t-shirt?

babies, guns and taxes. I like it. Concise, to the point, simple.

I would add the overriding Conservative principle is Self Determination, from which all else flows. This ideology is what should distinguish Conservatives from all others. Personal Responsibility and Accountability should be in there as well.
R.J.

Clearly, what we are talking about here is developing some sort of "shorthand criteria" for describing the ideology of a conservative person. However, I think using only "guns, babies, and economics," (admittedly all salient issues for the Republican base) is not necessarily enough shorthand criteria to describe a modern conservative. Basically, to create a useful and more accurate shorthand criteria, we need to acknowledge that this should be a rolling shorthand criteria for describing ideology, and that it also needs to be expanded and revised.

For example, during the 80's, Reagan ran on the three issues mentioned, but he also attracted votes based on his hawkish views on foreign policy/defense, his tough on crime views, and on his opposition to quotas/affirmative action/welfare. While the crime views of a politician have decreased in saliency, I would argue that having a hawkish/strong position on foreign policy/defense is even more important than ever; quotas are still important too. So, if you include these, than Rudy meets two more of the shorthand criteria for a modern conservative.

Plus, should all economic issues be lumped together - some conservatives are spending cutters, others are tax cutters, and others are for both? Rudy is both a tax cutter and a spending cutter. So if you divided this up, he would get more points in his favor as a conservative.

Plus, I believe it would be foolish to use the shorthand criteria as an either or proposition for these issues. For example, people are not necessarily for guns or against guns; they usually have a position along a continuum of how much gun control by the government should be allowed. Using this continuum, you find that Rudy is far more to one side of the debate than the other. (BTW, is "guns" a dividing line anymore; many politicians on the left have swung in favor of less gun control since the early 90's.)

What this all means is that Freddoso is wrong. I would label Rudy a conservative; I just don't believe that he is as conservative as others, including me, would like him to be.

and its close cousin, patriotism. Sorry, a strong national defense is always issue #1. It was issue #1 for Ike, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I in 1988, and Bush II in 2004. It's only when it falls off the radar as an issue that people jump ship in large numbers over other concerns.

I can't believe that's not an issue in Georgia, Louisiana, and Kansas. You are really telling me that flag and country don't mean as much down South as they do in New York? Seriously?

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

Being Pro-Life Is Necessary to Defend Liberty

I never thought I would live to see the day when patriotism was derided as the province of pointy-headed New York intellectuals.

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

If you are solid on the issue trinity (Guns, babies, and taxes) you'll be good on the other.

Guns, babies and taxes are my top issues, but they're followed closely by small government, strong national defense, personal responsibility and self determination.

That is why I like politicians like Dr. Coburn or Marilyn Musgrave or Steve King. They're heroes on issue trinity, but they're also heroes on the other conservative issues.

National defense is *not* one of the legs of the conservative stool? First "conservatives" give up fiscal discipline, now they throw off national defense. Utterly ridiculous. What is going on in "conservative" circles now, this narrowing and redefining, this purifying, is stupid and counterproductive.