Eric Wallace at Illinois Review just suggested that the next U.S. Senator from Illinois should follow what he calls the “L.I.F.T. Principles for governing.” The acronym stands for:
- Limited Government
- Individual Liberty and Responsibility
- Free Enterprise
- Traditional Values
Ah, the old libertarian-conservative schism is still there. He had me through L.I.F. but then he had to go and throw in some traditional values.
Those first three principles give some pretty clear guidance about what government should and should not be doing, but Traditional Values isn’t really a principle at all. It’s a kind of placeholder for a bunch of other things including,
Traditional family values must be preserved and impressed upon each generation. Duty, honor and love of country are some of those values…Marriage is intended to be a permanent relationship between one man and one woman and is a foundation for healthy and stable families…
As usual, it’s the conservative sell-out of libertarians. It’s all Limited Government and Individual Liberty and Responsibility unless you want to do something they think is icky.
I’ve never really understood that part of the Conservative agenda—the part where they’re standing “athwart history, yelling Stop” as William F. Buckley put it. Why stop here? Why stop now? What makes the recent past so great that we should stay there?
Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork took a lot of crap for his views during his confirmation, but at least he made it clear he thought we’ve been going downhill since the Reformation. If you’re going to demand a return to something as vague as traditional values, at least qualify it—Traditional Values (American Midwest, 1945, white Protestants)—so we know what you mean.
Although, really, we all know what you mean.
I’ve always suspected that conservatives don’t really care all that much about L, I and F when push comes to shove. It’s all about their concept of T, which means that L, I and F will be sacrificed to T in a heartbeat if it serves to further their version of T.
Well said Dr. X…..I agree 100%
Yeah, Doc, that’s one of the things that’s kept me out of the conservative movement. I just don’t see the connections they see.
Conservative, Liberal, Green party…who cares? As long as the new Senator is able to bring home the pork and make my life better, I don’t care what his political stripes are. It is all about the Benjies; show me the money!!!
That’s certainly a popular approach. Have you considered moving to Alaska? I hear they’ve done some ground-breaking work in this area.