For Part One of this two-part “This Just In” piece, click here
This Just In – Civilized societies constrain some markets to maintain order.
6) Gun Control – Yes
We control alcohol, use of automobiles and access to kittens. In many communities, we must be screened for the possibility that we’d be cruel or irresponsible with a kitten, but we can buy a gun and a trunk full of ammo while barely revealing anything personal to the seller. Screening for criminal history of assaulting a former employer or family member doesn’t amount to infringing on one’s rights. It amounts to living in a society that values law and order. That’s a conservative value, isn’t it? Law and Order?
More accurately, this should be called “deadly force control.” Protecting police and first responders from being vaporized by a criminal with a military-like arsenal including gasses, biological agents, shoulder-mounted missiles … we want to protect law enforcement from these kinds of weapons, right? Yeah, see … we already HAVE some control, we just need to tighten things up. We need to review what criminals are using and we need to adapt, adjust and move forward. That’s what intelligent beings do.
From Pew Research (2020):
“Though they tend to get less public attention than gun-related murders, suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2020, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (24,292), while 43% were murders (19,384), according to the CDC. The remaining gun deaths that year were unintentional (535), involved law enforcement (611) or had undetermined circumstances (400).”
7) Review/Restructure/Reduction of Military – Yes
Outgoing President Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex and his caution has proved its worth. If Medicare is the “third rail” of politics, then the military must be the fourth … somehow. Again, this comes down to facing the facts of America’s resources – in blood and treasure. We are already a military power so great that a conventional invasion of our shores is out of the question. Mission Accomplished.
Now, we have to become more agile and prepare for high tech attacks, more terrorism and the ongoing prospect of losing our way on the world stage. We must make the world safer through influence and leadership and our disputes over how to do this must stop at the water’s edge.
That’s the conservative view — an American view. One nation. Indivisible. Preserving our country’s national identity and respecting that we have one president at a time on the world stage is a position consistent with respectful conservative values. All Americans want a safe, free domestic life — one with the tranquility promised in our founding documents. Protecting citizens — including protecting their peaceful way of life — is a critical American value. With our world domination well-established on the military side, even the Pentagon agrees, managing climate change, the health and better education of America’s youth is a new focus needed for the sake of national security. If we promise to listen to commanders on the ground overseas, shouldn’t we listen to them from Washington?
8) Infrastructure Investment – Yes
Previously not controversial, this one’s pretty easy. The Acme Construction Company cannot go out in the marketplace and start building roads on speculation, then sell their use to drivers. Building roads, tunnels, bridges, dams — this is work that government must do, contracting through competitive bidding. Conserving our resources means doing these repairs and upgrades that must be done now, while borrowing money is at its cheapest. Do we have to wait for a relative to sail off a crumbling bridge to get this done? No, we do not. You don’t wait for your water heater to stop working before you replace it. You do the needed maintenance. You monitor efficiency. You watch your energy usage. And when you have two pennies to put together or rates are low for borrowing, you replace it. That’s the conservative approach. That’s what American families DO.
9) Equal Pay for Equal Work – Yes
The GOP is generally a pretty big cheerleader for the free market. In that market, the best mousetrap usually outsells its competitors and the entrepreneur wins over the bureaucrat, right? Equal pay for equal work is not affording anything special to women. Instead, it says to all workers — go forth and compete for opportunity and may the best qualified or hardest working win — on the merits. Period.
Women excel at some areas of business, it turns out. We are good team leaders, effective managers and creative problem solvers. Whether they enter/leave the workforce for child bearing doesn’t usually matter for the work that’s in front of them TODAY. Besides, equal pay for equal work is the LAW and Conservatives respect the law.
10) Minimum Wage Increases – Yes
Last, but never least. A higher minimum wage (which costs the government nothing) moves low-skilled workers closer to self-sufficiency and reduces their risk of dependency on government subsidy. Despite the fact that GOP leaders famously point to increases in minimum wage as a job killer for small employers, there is NO evidence of this. None.
Like tax cuts for the rich causing economic growth, it’s an unsubstantiated theory. The Conservative approach is to take actions that have been PROVEN to work, not stand blindly defending theories proven to fail. That’s delusional and extreme. It is NOT Conservative.
Conservatives are going to have to get used to a term that’s been in the business world for a while and is now in the mainstream of the political lexicon: data-driven decision-making. That means that you study the facts of what’s actually, provably happened and try to base your decisions on a universe of fact, free of emotional speculation or wishful thinking. It produces much more stable, predictable results. It accepts that failure is the price for trying. It studies failure for its lessons. “Failure,” said Henry Ford, “is the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.”
It’s based on SCIENCE. When doctors are “conservative” they take a course in treating a patient that involves the least risk, is least invasive, will likely do the least harm. At least, that’s what GOOD doctors do. These days, that means that orthopedic surgeons try physical therapy first and GOOD cardiologists send their patients to a nutritionist and recommend medical intervention (if their condition allows) instead of surgery. They take the long view. The American Conservative movement can do that, too. It’s not too late!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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