Actually, I think I Do Understand American Conservatism!

(A Response to My Critics…)

I’ve recently enjoyed a significant increase in the number of followers and readers of my work thanks to the Facebook “boost” tool (thanks to all of you who have connected!). This has introduced me to a variety of new “fans” who have variously questioned my politics, sanity, motivations, writing ability, and overall level of education. While they have unwittingly provided me seeds for several future articles, the academic in me was compelled to defend my body of knowledge first. So I thought it important to address what seemed to be the most common theme/question asked amongst responses from my last article “Dear Conservative,”… “What do you know about conservatives anyway?” (Expletives removed)

American conservatism is a unique political ideology. Like American liberalism, its roots can be traced back to 18th and 19th century European political philosophy. And like most things Americans borrow, it has been transformed in ways that make it incomparable to conservatism in other countries, or its classical form for that matter. The result from a domestic perspective is a growing list of paradoxes within the conservative Republican political platform that seem hypocritical to outsiders, and a repudiation of traditional conservative values to a growing number within the GOP itself. In order to fully…