I am a good map reader, still got the Boy Scout badge from a few decades back to prove it, but I didn’t have to prove I knew how to fold one. I have been known to just crumple it up and toss into the back seat. Life is different when experienced. Life just doesn’t open like a nice gilded edge book. Life unfolds more like that Rand McNally state map that is harder to put back than it should be, never again folding in a manner where the side you intended is facing out.
Most people can look at a map and tell you what should be the best path from point A to point B. I do have a couple of daughters though that have an issue with a compass and or map but those stories are for another blog. I am a conservative in almost all of my political leanings. Conservative is a pretty easy thing to be, be against taxes, be for less government spending, be against government interference in my life, be for equal opportunity not equal results. It really is easy to be a conservative much like reading a map, “just turn right at the next intersection.” and you are there.
As good as Rand McNally is, or even with an up to date Garmin there are times when travels will cause you to make a few detours, turns that cause you to take an alternate route than that of your original choice, left rather than right.
What is the conservative answer to welfare, health care, Social Security? Its easy to look at the map and say “just turn right”, “cut spending”, “cut taxes” “take free enterprise” that will get us there. Those routes are easy to identify when you are looking at how traffic should flow, how life should be, what path you should take when the car is running fine. When you are looking at the whole of society you build highways, or as us conservatives call them free ways! “Free ways” are usually the best way to get from point A to point B for most of society.
There are people that will never own a car that runs fine, persons that could not survive on a free way. It is when this conservative looks into the eyes of individuals that I understand the need for certain support systems, the need for alternate routes. I don’t need a government health care plan, but I see people every day that struggle with health issues and are overwhelmed with health care costs. I have a job and skill set that allows me to live comfortably, I know individuals who work hard and will always be near the bottom in income. I know other individuals that have no real skill set, and haven’t learned that it is skills for which employers pay. I have looked into the eyes of individuals that truly don’t understand that work is required in this life and for various reasons cannot hold a job at this point and cannot pay their way. I know of families that have come together to care for the aged within their families and of individuals that have outlived family, no longer possessing any means of support.
When I look at the whole of society I properly turn right on to a free way, when I look at an individual I sometimes have to take a detour that can look like a left hand turn, and to some conservatives I might appear lost. Our social programs should be structured to help those in need without hindering traffic on the freeway. I think that means a cut in government spending not more spending, but I also think it means continued social programs not less, just maybe refocused.
An average conservative can look at the map and say here is the best way… but I am not looking for a President that always turns right, and I certainly don’t want one that always turns left. I am looking for that guy that can get us to our destination when I know it will require a few detours. The hardest part is I am also looking for someone that is smart enough to be able to fold the map when he is done so that the next guy can use it also..
My bumper sticker should say “caution makes unexpected left turns”
David
Another good one, Dave.