I've never seen those threads so I wasn't ignoring anything....
Some characteristics of a Conservative politically would be a
1) a belief that Government can not answer ever question nor provide for every need and should be only as big as absolutely needed. except when it comes to personal choices, such as abortion and gay marriage, right?
2) People are responsible for their actions and their welfare. The Government is not responsible to provide a safety net,that is the job of the Citizenry through charity. except when it comes to corporations such as Wall Street and enron, right?
3) The Government should not tax and spend unless it has a defined and legal purpose for doing so. Taxes belong to the people not the Government. Collecting them and using them is a duty that must be shown to be required. except when it comes to wars without merit, right?
4) Less regulation and less laws, only creating laws and regulations when needed and proven to be required. yes, let's **** the environment...why regulate water for the people to drink? **** em.... yeah, why regulate medicine? let the people take any experimental drug they want, except RU486...that one kills babies...let's regulate that one... forget regulating banks too... oh wait... that got us into this current mess....let's regulate them again.....
5) Obeying and following the Documents and laws that grant power to the Government, not inventing new powers without going to the people for authority through the Amendment process. except when it's in the name of national security, right?
funny thing though... most people view conservatives as people who want no government except in the name of the unborn and the anti-gay supporters....
does it bother you that the face of conservatives is like that?
No, because it's not. It's just what people who come across as mentally ill insist is the focus of conservatism. Hence Ravi's inability to see conservatism for what it really is. She can't separate the fantasy from the fact, and when the two don't jibe, she insists that the picture that doesn't match her fantasy isn't true conservatism.
If you'll recall, it was the LIBERALS who interjected the government into the realm of sex and the unborn. It was LIBERALS who insisted the government should get involved in that realm. And it is LIBERALS who insist that laws must exist to force others to accept their world view.
There is no conservative on the face of the earth who has been campaigning to eliminate homosexuals, to eliminate homosexuality, or to prevent homosexuals from cohabitating. It is the LIBERALS who insist that schools should be teaching about homosexuality, who are insisting that we alter the definition of words which define the basis of the family, and it is the liberals who think that anyone who doesn't fall all over themselves to fawn over homosexuals should be thrown in jail.
Likewise, it is the liberals who are attempting to change the language, via the law, so that "personal choice" includes murder.
You're damn right we don't believe personal choice should enable a population to kill their babies, or to essentially nullify traditional marriage. If you don't want to be traditional, go for it. Find a church to marry you and get your will in order. But **** YOU if you think you can force homosexuality and murder down our throats by MAKING IT LEGAL, then accusing us of doing exactly what you are doing yourselves.
Sorry, your personal choice ends when it 1. is murder, and 2. consists of forcing me to teach my children that a homosexual lifestyle is the same as a traditional one.
That's what we call "thought police" and it isn't the conservatives who are doing it.