I am a conservative. I have always been a conservative. For most of my life I even considered myself a patriot.

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when I was 9 years old. I was living on the direct flight path between MacDill AFB and Castro. The sight of those warplanes flying overhead so close that I could almost touch them shocked me into political awareness.

In 1964 I walked a precinct for Barry Goldwater; and lost my entire allowance in failed elections bets with my schoolmates. From working in that campaign, and from reading Goldwater’s book, “The Conscience of a Conservative”, I came to understand that there were four cardinal principles on which modern American Conservatism was built: + Limited constitutional government; + Free enterprise; + Strong national defense; and + Traditional values.

I deeply and passionately believe in the God-given freedom and personal dignity of the individual. These rights, enshrined in Magna Carta, the Common Law, the English Bill of Rights, the US Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution have guaranteed the greatest amount of prosperity and personal dignity and freedom in the history of the world! I am saddened that the heirs to this legacy, here and in the UK, have traded their inalienable rights for a bowl of pottage and some magic beans.

Ayn Rand and the Objectivists deduce individual rights from observable moral principles. Many others deduce them from Natural Law. The Declaration of Independence asserts they come from our Creator.

Being an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I prefer a more theological approach. If you prefer another approach to the same conclusion, feel free to skip any of the indented paragraphs.

When the Lord God created the universe, He could have made man an automaton without the ability to do wrong. But He didn’t, He made man is His own image and gave him free will; even though He knew with perfect foreknowledge that the price of that free will would be sin and death, and ultimately cost the life of His Own Son on the cross.

If the freedom of every man is that important to our Creator, how can it be any less to us?

There has been a steady war on those freedoms since the inception of the Republic. Some people, who genuinely believe they know what is good for us better than we do ourselves, are trying to create a perfect society.

The very flawed nature of man prevents that from happening. Until the Author of the Universe steps back into it to permanently fix what man has broken, the best we can hope for is peace, freedom and justice: not perfection.

That perfect society seems to be turning out to be a blend of George Orwell’s “Big Brother” from “1984” and “Soma pills” from Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”.  Big Brother ought to be obvious—perhaps Soma is a little less so: I am convinced that the American People have become so addicted to wasteful, puerile  consumerism, that they will trade fundamental liberty for the latest video games, labor-saving device, or “Reality TV Show”.

When I watch Americans meekly surrendering their rights to an ever-growing government leviathan, I wonder what happened to the spirit that cried out:

• Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death. (Patrick Henry)
• Those who would surrender essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Even peace can be purchased at too high a price. (Benjamin Franklin)
• If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. (Samuel Adams)
• It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from the government. (Thomas Paine)

It should be remembered that those statements were acts TREASON against their lawful government, which at the time, was one of the freest in the world.

George Washington, who was hardly a libertarian, let alone anarchist, offered these thoughts:

• Bind the government down with the strong chains of a constitution; and
• Government, like fire, is a useful servant, but a fearful master.

Compare those sentiments to a statement made directly to me by a federal officer: “Giving up your personal rights is the price you have to pay for freedom.” If you can figure that one out, please explain it to me.