January 4, 2009
9:17 am PST
7 commentsLooking for good conservative blogs
I’d like to add one or two more conservative (not necessarily Republican) blogs to my list. Any suggestions? Bloggers preferred over columnists. Inquisitive minds preferred over ideologues. I already read blogs by conservatives Greg Mankiw and Andrew Sullivan.
7 comments
Sorry, I don’t consider Andrew Sullivan to be a true conservative. I’d recommend Charles Krauthammer, the syndicated Washington Post columnist, and Tony Blankley, who writes for the Washington Times.
No need for apology
I’ll take a look at those, thanks.
Which issues of Sullivan’s are disqualifiers in your view?
Pretty much everything he said and did during the campaign season and his support of Obama, for starters.
I disagree that supporting Obama means that someone’s not conservative. If someone else had won the primary and I voted for McCain, would I suddenly not be liberal? Some liberals voted for McCain and some conservatives voted for Obama.
Even if you think “everything he said and did” is non-conservative, obviously not all of them are disqualifiers.. which ones are?
Did some conservatives vote for Obama? Sure they did. My guess would be that those voters viewed Obama as the lesser of two evils. If that’s true, one must ask themselves why.
How can someone that supports traditional conservative ideals can ever support a candidate with the platform that Obama ran on during the campaign? If I call myself a conservative but I voted for Obama, am I still espousing conservative principles? I don’t think that I am, and, in that sense, I’m no longer a true conservative. I’m something else. This probably sounds more heavy handed than it’s meant to be, so please don’t think that I’ve written off all conservatives that voted for Obama.
As I said, I don’t believe Andrew Sullivan is a true conservative. While it’s true that Sullivan leans to the right on some of the big issues, including limited government and the privatization of social security, he also leans to the left on same sex marriage and the death penalty. This year Sullivan endorsed Obama and, prior to that endorsement, Ron Paul for the Republican ticket. Why Ron Paul? Sullivan’s conservative stances may actually be libertarian in nature, while his social conscience is more liberal.
It is worth noting that I do not pass this test, either. I take a decidedly liberal position on the issue of gay marriage, for example. By my own definition, that does not make me a true conservative. I’m not a moderate by any means but I’m also no longer a true conservative.
I think most people fall in the middle of the two party extremes. Still, I’d expect someone that represents themselves as a conservative to fall to the right on most issues if not all of them.
In the context of your original post, you named Sullivan as one of your go-to conservative bloggers. My intention was to dissuade you from identifying him as such and instead steer you toward someone like Charles Krauthammer, whom I consider to be a much better and more relevant example of true conservatism today.
If a “true” conservative… is someone against gay marriage, pro death penalty, pro-torture, hawkish when it comes to war, and doesn’t believe in global warming, etc…” count me out– that’s a moron. (just kidding—sort of
This Sullivan guy sounds pretty smart– I may have to check out his blog. I think I understand what you’re saying Brendan, and I think you’d agree that you’re equating “conservative” here with “Republican”… frankly, I think it’s absurd that issues like abortion, gay rights, death penalty, etc., even have these labels associated with them. In your own strict terms, Brendan, a true “conservative” is philosophically a hypocrite (socially restrictive and economically liberal)…as all 6″ platformed Republicans are. Frankly, the most consistent party out there is probably the Libertarians… and most of us think they’re just crazy.
Anyone who has “all” or “almost all” beliefs strictly following a Democratic or Republican platform is someone who’s credibility and intelligence should perhaps be interrogated (without using torture).
Yeah, in retrospect, I guess I phrased my request poorly, as “conservative” is very vague. Brendan’s definition of conservatism is a common one, but I’m only interested in limited government, economic conservatism and stuff like that. Social conservatism doesn’t have any ideological consistency with the part I’m looking for, and I don’t find it all that interesting.
I honestly had to think for a moment to remember what the “conservative” stance on the death penalty is. Heh, think about it- a limited government that is so powerful it can kill its own citizens!
I’m not against hearing opinions of social conservatives, but I don’t think I’ll learn many things I don’t already know.
It seems that the definitions of conservative and liberal have been guided by the political alliances that have formed the two parties. I guess I keep wanting conservatives to embrace a bit more of libertarianism…
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