For future reference, my political philosophy is outlined here:
A fully formed philosophy must include four dimensions, just like the space/time universe described by Einstein. The usual one dimensional, left to right, or conservative to liberal model with the individual placing him/herself usually somewhere near the center is simply too simplistic to describe a political philosophy.
The right to left, or let’s call it the X axis of my model, goes from limited government to big government. I think it is safe to say that conservatives are supposed to support a limited government, lower taxes, and less intrusion into individual affairs. They would logically be on the right side of the X axis.
By that definition, a “social conservative” stance against gay marriage and abortion can not be considered conservative, as that idea advocates that the government, not the individual, make some basic life decisions.
None of that means that conservatives are being hypocritical, not when you add the Y and Z and T axes to the model. The issue of gay marriage is on the Y axis, authoritarian to libertarian, and has nothing to do with the right to left continuum. The authoritarian would have the government use its authority to dictate who might marry who, while the libertarian would leave that decision to the individual. The issue of abortion is on the same axis, as is the issue of legalizing drugs. None of them really have anything to do with a limited or less limited role for the federal government.
The Z axis of the model is from practical to ideologue. Take, for example, the issue of universal health coverage. This issue has been labeled as an extreme liberal position, but is it really?
The practical extreme of the axis would favor this syllogism:
The US is the only developed country without universal coverage,
We pay more than any other country in the world for health care, yet don’t have any better outcomes,
Therefore, we should consider universal coverage.
While an ideologue would be more likely to favor this one:
Universal care is socialistic
Socialism doesn’t work,
Therefore, universal care won’t work.
The fourth dimension, or T axis regards foreign policy. Here again, the so called “conservative” philosophy is contradictory: They want a smaller government, yet want that same government to lead the rest of the world. Still, there is no conflict, as foreign policy is on yet another dimension, that of PNAC to isolationist. The PNAC, as you may recall, wants to increase the military in order to impose a kind of pax Americana on the rest of the world by force of arms. The other extreme is self explanatory.
That explained, my philosophy is slightly past the middle at the smaller government side of the X axis, on the extreme libertarian edge of the Y axis, at the practical extreme of the Z axis, and near the center of the T axis.
Conservatives will still call me a liberal, of course, since I favor universal converge, don’t believe that Obama is out to destroy America, that drugs should be decriminalized, and the war in Iraq was a mistake.
Liberals might call me a conservative, since think that bailing out the auto industry and the banks was a costly error, and that the government must begin to live within its means, and soon.
Call me what you like, as I don’t subscribe to a one dimensional philosophy. I’m a practical libertarian conservative.
