I have deliberately left off Republican. It is good for recruiting in places like the Pride festival where we seem to be the minority. More importantly, we are a conservative group. We identify with the Republican party. However, there is currently a debate raging inside our party as to what defines a good Republican. Of coarse, we at LCR believe it is real conservative values, and we along with other groups, are debating with the religious right for the right to define conservative and therefore Republican.

I believe that the religious right is not conservative. We hear Republicans upset with the government for interfering with banks, the auto industry and health care currently. We do not like the spending that goes with that government interference in a Free Market economy. We are also unhappy with with the way the government has botched Social Security and Medicare for the elderly and disabled. Almost all Republicans alike are in agreement in these things. Conservatives the country over feel the government needs to be smaller and more efficient, not bloated with new spending and new social programs that continue to eat away at our liberty and economic power globally.

We hailed the governments decision, under the Bush administration, to create some national standards for schools, as imperfect as it was. We also welcomed that the Bush administration opened up federal funding to religious charities that provide services to the homeless and underprivileged. Creating a better playing field in education and making federal grants available to all institutions including religious ones creates fairness and equality. It does not punish those with ro without beliefs and lets all of the various groups compete with the same guidelines.

These are all good conservative principles. The government should be limited and create simple guidelines for us to share, and compete in, without concern for undo pressure from the big guys, and free of government micromanagement. The religious right wants all of these things. I find it funny then that they consistently want government at all levels to interfere in how we live our lives. They do not want the government in health care, but they want the government in our bedrooms. This contradiction is huge. The social agenda of the religious right does not meet the criteria for good limited government. It espouses limited government unless….

Many of our personal freedoms took a hit under the Republican Social agenda. This is what we must undo and repair in order to improve the quality of the lives all Americans lead.

As Republicans that espouse conservative principles, we should do all we can to get true conservatives back in charge of the party.

I believe the government should use the “my rights end where your rights begin” motto as a measuring test more often. The government should make sure the borders are secure, and that our national defense is strong and capable. They should want me, to not murder, steal, or defraud my neighbors. They should ensure that companies are responsible to the environment. These things affect us all. Abortion, stem cell research, and civil marriage for all, do not inherently meet this standard. These are almost exclusively individual or family decisions that have no impact on society at large. The do not infringe on the rights of others. Asking the government to micromanage or disallow individuals to make decisions on these things is very intrusive and inhibits our personal freedoms. We should resist any and all attempts to do this. Allow religions to continue to debate and change the minds of our people individually, but get the government out of the business of sanctioning any one belief system.

These ideas are a few of the reasons I am a Republican, and why, as a conservative, I want the party back in the hands of conservatives and out of the religious right. They have a place in the party, but under leadership from the religious right, we have failed to deliver on the promise that is America. Just like the Democrats, we have ballooned the national debt, spread our military too thin, allowed our border to leak like a sieve and seen more large government programs, that have eaten away our freedom while failing to provide all of the promised security we traded it for. Remembering real conservative values is the way to ensure the Republican party is more relevant in this political climate. Let’s use these values to demonstrate the true difference between the two parties and let the people choose.

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