Conservatives Fiddle, America Burns

MJ here: Yes, although I consider myself 'liberal' I still read conservative views daily. While I am not agreeing with everything posited here, it's an interesting article I found today in a very conservative publication. Much of it sounds pretty liberal to me...and may show that conservatives have abandoned neocons and are moving to the left. It is a long article and here are some excerpts:

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/23051.html

by Raymond S. Kraft
Conservatives Fiddle, America Burns

The fight to "end abortion" is futile. It is a Sisyphean battle that cannot be won. The simplest and most effective way to minimize the number of abortions is to provide ready access to contraceptives, contraceptive information, and "morning after" pills, such as Plan B, to everyone who asks for them, and to encourage those who cannot, or will not, abstain from sexual activeness, to ask.

Conservatives who elevate the gay marriage issue to a matter of highest priority are making a mountain out of the spelling of three words - "marriage," and "civil union." What we call the relationships of gays, or lesbians, or straights, will not change the substance of whatever people do - only the label. Like the abortion fight, this is a Sisyphean effort, a fight that cannot be won. Homosexuals will "marry," whether the State calls it "marriage," or a "civil union," or anything else. If Tom and Jerry say, "We're married!" - who can say they are not?


America has fiddled and diddled over its immigration problem for far too many years already. We have to get it right. This will require achieving effective border control to minimize illegal immigration. And it will require some Conservatives to swallow hard and face up to the fact that ideological purity on the issue is futile - the 10 million or more illegal immigrants now working in the American economy are water under the bridge, a done deal - it would be a social and economic disaster to deport them all, mostly to Mexico - that would create a labor shortage in the US of 10 million workers, and a surge of 10 million unemployed, resentful America-haters in Mexico, the perfect recipe for (a) a severe American recession, (B) a severe Mexican recession, and © the rise of a radical Marxist, Anti-American government in Mexico.

America's dependence for energy on imported oil and natural gas makes our economy (and survival) vulnerable to threats from countries, regions, and terrorist organizations hostile to America's interests and principles, and helps fund America's enemies. America must fast-track the development of nuclear power, solar and wind power, bio-fuels technology, and our own enormous oil, natural gas,

By rethinking the way we pay for and deliver health care, we can keep our present private health care system in place, and use money now being spent by Medicaid and the states to fund "Americare," a health insurer of last resort for those who (a) cannot get health insurance through their employer, and (B) cannot get their own, either because they can't afford it, or because of their medical history, with premiums subsidized on a sliding scale according to income.

Among other steps that need to be taken to revitalize America's public schools, Congress must mandate a core curriculum in mathematics and sciences, and a core curriculum in Western Civilization and American History, grade school through college. This must be not merely about testing, but about content.

There are no perfect people, and there are no perfect candidates for the Presidency, or any other office. All possible candidates will have flaws, imperfections. We have all made mistakes in the past, we will all make mistakes in the future. Successful people change their minds as they grow, mature, accumulate knowledge and experience. Successful people learn from their mistakes. Successful people fight the battles they can win, and don't waste their energies on the battles they can't.