ABORTION RIGHTS AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ARE NOT CONSERVATIVE ISSUES!

Once again I briefly stray from tax policy, planning and preparation.

With filling the open seat on the Supreme Court the current top news story, it is important to understand that opposition to abortion and Roe v Wade is NOT a true conservative position.  And opposition to same-sex marriage is NOT a true conservative position.  A judge who supports overturning Roe v Wade or the same-sex decision may be a “Republican” judge, but he or she is NOT a “conservative” judge.

It is my understanding that the principles of American conservative political philosophy are:

• Protect & Maximize Individual Rights 

• Ensure a Limited Government

• Uphold the Rule of Law

• Commitment to Federalism and the Separation of Powers

• Maintain Free & Open Markets (Economic & Social)

These principles certainly prevent the opposition to abortion and Roe v Wade and alternative sexual orientation.  As indicated above, true conservatism calls for prioritizing the rights of the individual and minimum involvement by the government in the personal life of the citizen. 

Opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage is based in religious belief.  Contrary to conservative principles, the so-called “evangelicals” of the religious right want the government to tell people how to live their lives.  The specific religious beliefs of one sect or group must never be legislated. The separation of Church and State is a cornerstone of American democracy.

If your religious beliefs instruct you that abortion is bad – then do not have an abortion.  If your religious beliefs tell you that homosexuality and same-sex marriage is wrong - then don’t practice homosexuality or marry someone who is the same sex as you.  But you cannot force your specific religious belief on your neighbor, regardless of any sincere desire to save him or her from the “fires of hell”.  The religious can certainly "preach the gospel" to those who will listen, but cannot make the government force non-believers to follow it. 

Here is what Senator Barry Goldwater, the politician most often credited with sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s, explained decades ago–

“Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy.”

And -

“I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state. The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process.”

And -

"Today's so-called 'conservatives' don't even know what the word means. They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the Pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It's not a conservative issue at all."

As a post-script – looking at the principles of American conservative political philosophy identified above, it is very clear that Donald Trump is NOT a conservative.

TTFN