—
Countless people seem to be misguided about what conservatives stand for. When I mention that I’m a conservative usually what follows are questions related to whether or not I believe Trump is racist, whether or not I only support conservatism because I’m a Christian, or questions asking how I feel about the LGBT community.
For starters do I think Trump is racist? NO! Am I a Christian? YES! However, that isn’t why I’m conservative. Do I hate the LGBT community? NO! I just believe in, support, and will defend my Christian values. As with any organization or movement of people numbering in the millions, broad generalizations are to be expected. The misrepresentations of conservatives show that we are no exception to that.
Although many people make the accusation, conservatives are not racist. Conservatives believe in equality for Americans regardless of race or ethnicity. When we decide not to support issues like affirmative action, it is because we view the policy as something that fosters racism.
While its intentions of encouraging integration and making up for past transgressions are noble, the policy has many faults. Besides hurting the people, it intends to help; it strokes racial tensions by providing an unfair advantage to certain groups.
For true equality, conservatives believe race should never be part of the consideration for admitting someone to college. There are other ways of helping disadvantaged groups without discriminating against others.
Opponents of conservatism also point to immigration as proof of conservative racism. If done legally, conservatives believe immigration has its benefits. Legal immigration of people who want to assimilate to our values of hard work, two-parent households, freedom of religion, and love for community, are welcomed with open arms. We aren’t against immigration because we don’t want other people coming here, but are against illegal immigration. There is a process, and the process should be respected.
It is normal for someone to believe that some people are only conservatives because they’re Christian. After all, we have some overlapping beliefs — both Conservatives and Christians are against abortion and the breakdown of the traditional nuclear family.
However, our general support of conservatism has nothing to do with what we believe but has everything to do with having the freedom to support our beliefs. We live in a time where it is okay to say you support gay marriage, but not okay to say you don’t. I, nor any other conservative endorses hating anyone because of their sexual orientation.
We don’t hate gays. We don’t hate lesbians. We don’t hate Transgenders. We just don’t agree with their beliefs — to us marriage is sacred. Central to the American Dream is having freedom (this includes freedom of religion and freedom of expression). In a free society, people should be allowed to disagree without being called homophobic. No American should be discriminated against for being gay or Christian.
All conservatives ask is to have the freedom to not agree with what liberals believe. Americans should be free to support or not support anything they want. After all, that is what having freedom is about. Religion is something personal, and we aren’t trying to force it on anyone. Christians support conservatism because it defends our freedom to exercise our beliefs. We aren’t voting for conservative politicians simply because they agree with us, but because they defend our freedom to not agree with modern social issues.
—
—
Photo by tom coe on Unsplash
—
“We don’t hate gays. We don’t hate lesbians. We don’t hate Transgenders. We just don’t agree with their beliefs”…those who are gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, asexual, and/or gender fluid aren’t that way because of a “belief.” And even the really bad racists call Trump a racist because, well, he’s a racist.