Why I Am a Conservative

[putointaft]

fair.



[F1REbomb]

SA you are a Liberal Democrat and you know it, stop pretending.

[FaithlessLiberty]

He dosent belief in welfare statism (socialized healthcare, public option and etc) gun control, multi-culturalism, and the unessesary spreading of democracy.. how the hell can he be a liberal democrat for fuck sakes?

[willyrobinson]

Yep. erhm i mean yes you are correct Jack.

[WhimsicalQuandary]

America has one party with two heads.

Murder all governments.

Destroy the market.

Burn the bank.

[AndroidPolitician]

SA is the best conservative.

[OgallalaKnowhow]

I'm mainly playing devil's advocate. My qualm is w/ people who cite the constitution as if everything can be reduced to legal, or institutional problems.

I really need to read more about the railroad bubble and subsequent bust in the late 19th century. The contrast with Canada's railroad history is pretty fascinating. We had a nationalized rail industry -it was truly a nation-building project- which threw the country into debt repeatedly as the newly accessible resources dampened export prices

[OgallalaKnowhow]

One question to consider: is government governed by the constitution possible in our industrial-modern era, as opposed to when majority of the population were independent commodity producers (farmers); the federal government truly began to expand simultaneously to facilitate industrial production, and in turn, in response to the massive inequalities and externalities of unregulated industry and rapid urban growth.

These material relations are as important as the philosophy of limited government

[CrimeReport]

Multiculturalism was well-intentioned???

What world do you live in?

[EdwardJellico]

I am the exact same way, specialforces 69. Surprisingly, I feel many conservatives feel the way we do but are scared to come out of the closet.

[gf4rce]

very well said.

The only thing that makes a conservatives argument more valid than a liberals is the bible. The bible is the foundation of everything " conservative". Start arguing with conservatism with the biblical basis and its rock-solid.

[yviva]

no end to the incorrect statements here...

[nlarrew614]

Conservative is an idea that has been so adulterated and misused that the very concept has lost its meaning. Bush has made conservatism a dirty word and turned the entire republican party into the laughing stock of the whole world. The libertarian ideology most closely resembles the intentions of our founding fathers but too few people are actually willing to evaluate what they think or believe and are quick to follow a philosophy blindly. Creating a hypocritical group of sheep.

[RevolutionaryJam]

uberlols the constitution is an inherantly conservative document and yet the creation of america was completely and utterly radical

[tarzanofcouches]

If you look at the kind of government the Americans were fighting at that time, it was a government that was tyrannical and had overstepped its bounds. Any time an overthrow happens, it's radical. The reason he says it's a conservative document is because of the classical liberal philosophy of limited government and high individual freedom (which in America has been called conservative at points, rightly or wrongly). Political labels have become so diluted they don't mean much anymore.

[RevolutionaryJam]

well made points. Althoguh localised ratehr than centralised government has also been at times a liberal ideal.

[RevolutionaryJam]

negative lifestyle and negative treatment of others = result of trauma on the psyche. Can be reversed through trauma release exercises or Brain State Technologies if you have the money.

[hartshornguy]

excellent 5-5 stars

[unmarkedX]

5 stars

nuff said

[nebraska9000]

666 views lol

[GBanville]

Decent. But 4 stars out of 5 for misunderstanding the libertarian view of the free market.

[ExecutorJoe]

great video, and i agree %100

[Nawledge1]

Good vid, but I gotta disagree with one point.

Liberals dont ignore flaws of humanity and think everyone is inherently good. Hitler disproved that. To get rid of flaws, you have to recognize them in the first place but that's the problem. Trying to get rid of flaws. It wont happen. You many not like Obama, but he did say something very true: "This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation proves it can be perfected".

I think the same thing can be said for humanity as a whole.

[CensureGraham]

jack has a way with words. how does someone actually think all that and actually verbalize it in a coherent fashion?!

[Silvsilvchan]

Jack, this video is very nearly my favorite one I have ever seen from you. "The Tale of Two Rights" I think just barely edges it out, because that commentary actually dramatically altered my views on conservatism and what it is.

Great work.

[jbutte]

Jack, you are on a role.

My family drove through Charleston last week on the way to Isle of Palms. As we were driving down Meeting Street, I was thinking maybe I'd see you.

That sand - it took me 3 hours to vacuum that sand out of the car. It's like silt or something. Ah - fun times anyway.

[Silvsilvchan]

Oh Lord God that sand. We went to Georgia, close to the South Carolina border years ago.

That sand gets into EVERYTHING. I swear, I was finding it in sealed food packages.

[Roo5terCogburn]

If concentrated capital can be dangerous, then the LAST thing you should invoke to solve the problem is the state or government. Government is the single greatest enabler of concentrated wealth. A free market- minus the state- would make current wealth disparities impossible. Government is inherently top-down- it CANNOT spread wealth, only concentrate it.

Poor cop out, SA. Still, I remain a fan! A (l)ibertarian one.

[Silvsilvchan]

He didn't suggest government as a solution to that though.

I hate corporations. I hate Ayn Rand style objectivism. I hate people fueled by greed and self interest.

I just hate the government more.

[Roo5terCogburn]

Ah... I didn't mean to misrepresent the guy. I guess I don't understand what is he does propose that is not the state that is also incompatible with libertarianism. I thought the comment was meant to explain why he supports a state.

Of course I agree about Rand and objectivists. Brainpolice2's video says it well- they say they're not libertarians, and we should take their word for it.

[Silvsilvchan]

Yeah, Rand was critical of libertarianism from time to time- but that was her nature and I wouldn't have her behave any other way. Inspite of my not approving of objectivism on a personal level I do recognize her for the thinker she was and the vast majority of her points are valid.

[cgraham1930]

correction: when different cultures are FORCED to co-habitate, it creates more friction (affirmative action, school busing, things like that.) however in more EO type environments, (the military being my example) race friction doesn't really exist.

[tarzanofcouches]

I'm no fan of affirmative action, but I do think conservatives in Jack's vein focus way too much on issues like race and gender that, while matter, shouldn't and don't matter in an overarching manner for the grand scheme of things. In this era there's no forcing of cohabitation anyway, though busing was wrong.

[tarzanofcouches]

And what I mean by that is they help shape a person in some ways, but they are far from the primary molder.

[laviciousness]

Illegal immigration is such an enormous problem in this country that only a big government can manage and work to eradicate the problem. As a conservative AND a realist, I'm aware that this country is too big for "small beans" to be the law of the land. And you won't circumvent that problem by breaking this country into 50 smaller countries either, because even small states would have a tough time shrinking their governments in light of how big the populations of the "small" states are.

[steve0281]

I don't know if a big government is necessary to handle the problem, just a committed government. The US has a big enough government to handle it, just not the will to do so.

[laviciousness]

You're correct, it is big enough as it is to deal with the problem. My point is not that it isn't big enough so much as that it needs to be somewhat big in order to handle illegal immigration. "Small beans" just won't cut it.

[TulliusVII]

Brilliant. Succinct and brilliant.

[soicuw]

libertarian/free market purists do indeed recognize concentration of funds in the private sector is just as dangerous as concentration in the government.

But a pure free market prevents unbalanced distribution of wealth in the private sector. Read Mary Ruwart's "Healing our World" it discusses this in detail

[sparkywundermutt1]

My new favorite video on YouTube.

Very, very well said and explained.

[RangerKozak]

Dude, I have the same laptop.

[mathgeek37]

How about a new term...minarchist.

[mathgeek37]

My favorite subject in college after math was philosophy. A great professor told me that mankind will agree on about 95% of every proposition ever conceived, it's the other 5% that causes the damage.

Hmmm...I guess we can't sweat the small stuff, can we?

Southern Avenger's best commentary ever.

[Amy31415]

My favorite subject after chemistry was philosophy. It's fascinating to study the basic constructs that lead to outcomes on a macro scale.

I think it's a natural fit with science/math.

[btigtime2]

I don't want flaud men in a flaud government to have power over me, I

m screwed as it is. great stuff

[Alucard1121171]

you spelling is more flawed than the government that you're insulting. Get a dictionary and you will learn that there is no 'u' in FLAWED.

[lengthyounarther]

To bad a free market doesnt lead to consentrations of capitol. Indeed it leads to less consentration of capital than any non free market system. Otherwise, I always like SA.

[MRSketch09]

@lengthyounarther

I agree. That's the thing about a true free market system.... compared to the pseudo free market we have now.

[keithrockerboblewis]

Humans are indeed evolving. Are you not in that group?

[Stunr99]

3 words. Federal Reserve Bank.

[Alucard1121171]

Three words. Oh Cana Da

[Bigwheels161616]

This should have been called Why I am an Idiot by the SA

I dont know any libertarian longing for a libertarian utopia, the arguement is a libertarian free market system would be a great improvement from what we have now, improvement to a point where it reached utopian level? who knows

Btw whats the difference b/w conservatism and libertarianism? other than the injection of religion to politics by the conservatives.

I am one of those libertarians who defected from the democrat party

[Dedhedted71]

This is a great video! I agree wholeheartedly.

[chillmonster]

Too many initial stereotypes and unsupported conclusions to take too seriously. On of SAs worse vids IMO.

[scott715]

"...ignore that the concentration of private capital can be just as damaging as the concentration of government."

The statement contains a hint of Marxism.

I ignore not because I am rigid, but because the statement is based on false premises.

[larma7]

Jack, you are absolutely a conservative. I'd consider you a paleo-con. Same with Ron Paul. Though both of you have SOME libertarian leanings.

I myself am a leftist, but also have very strong libertarian leanings. After-all, libertarianism is and always has been a leftist idea.

Support the National Innitiative for Democracy and put the government in the hands of the people, where it belongs. That's what I advocate first and fore-most.

[anarchistassilum]

libertarianism isn't right or left on its own. there are right leaning and left libertarians but no one economic structure owns libertarianism. there are outright communist-anarchists as well as anarcho-capitalists and different leaning minarchists all are part of libertarianism and have been since the beginning.

[larma7]

Yes, you are right. I actually meant that its origins were from the "left".

[jsh78mang]

This is the best from you yet and describes how I feel to a T. TY SA

[peppermintjohn666]

I have never fully seen eye to eye with the SA but he seems to be traveling in the right direction.

[glidinclyde]

beautiful

[smallmaniac]

"I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto, — "That government is best which governs least";(1) and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have." - Henry David Thoreau. Civil Disobedience

[Elasaltaculos]

being an American conservative, is by definition being a classical liberal. These terms are not contradictory in the context of American history.

That "liberals" (like "conservatives") have adopted those labels and dragged them through the mud is another thing.

[kmg501]

Yep I agree. It's like our labels are enslaving us in a sea of confusion because every time someone issues a label, you have to be sure about what it is they really are describing.

Too often people are confused about the exact concepts they are reading about because it only takes a slightly lazy description to lead a reader astray.

This is why I wish that in America we had a modest political fitness test to lend to the idea of that when someone votes, they actually understand the process.

[Elasaltaculos]

Yeah, if people would just think about it and understand that the United States has a tradition of liberalism and freedom, it is not hard to make the connection that American conservatism is liberal in nature.

There is nothing liberal about using government coercion to impose one's will on others, like today's "liberals" want to do.

Just like there's nothing conservative about finding ways to circumvent our founding documents to fit a religious agenda.

[Nawledge1]

Cosign that Elasal. Very true.

[Pentazoid111]

Corporatism is not capitalism; The only way a private industry can have a large concentration of power is when a government body in enables it to have power; Take eminent domain for example; Businesses would never be able to kicked people off of their property to place businesses on land that was not their homes without this law; I like how you disregard public monopolies Like public education, the post office, eventually our healthcare system;

[tarzanofcouches]

Pentazoid111,

I would like to see SA address your point, it is one I agree with. I recognize the dangers of big government and big corporations colluding, but in a true free market system you wouldn't have these artificially sustained monopolies or oligarchies as they would be under constant threat from competitors. A true free market wouldn't be like what we have now by a long shot. It's still true all monopolies are inherently dangerous, govt/other. These are all good examples you show.

[xavierspade666]

@Pentazoid111 No, Wal-Mart is a private industry without an enabling government body and it has a large concentration of power. It controls a very large labor force; it controls its suppliers due to how much of their business it provides; also it controls what competitors must price their products to remain in business. Only governments have eminent domain.

Education is not a public monopoly... homeschool.

The Post Office is not... U.P.S., Fed-Ex

[RCinPAWA]

Ah, humanity!

Divide and conquer.

[littlebier8]

Who is this "we" that will "minimize the damage" when man "does his inevitable worst"? Isn't it true that that "we" is government, composed of MEN? And isn't it also true that history shows that man's inevitable worst comes from governments' wars, plans, and attacks on or for its citizens? Wouldn't the logical conclusion be that it is UTOPIAN to argue that somehow this government, set up like all others, with the BEST of intentions, will work out differently, composed as it is by flawed men?

[steve0281]

Jack, Libertarians would contend that capital is not likely to concentrate when there is no laws allowing for it to do so. Government gives favored status to certain industries and for that reason capital concentrates in those areas. Deregulation would prevent that.

[immanent]

Capital does accumulate, does it not? I'm not aware of any federal involvement in the profitability of microsoft and the virtual monopoly they hold. I would consider Bill Gates' net worth a massive accumulation of capital due to open markets, but there are countless positive treatments of natural monopolies by Austrian School theorists. What's so bad about accumulation of capital, I do not know.

[steve0281]

Good point. Capital can and will accumulate as long as people buy the product. If government limits competition in an area, then capital will accumulate in those favored industries. Microsoft is extremely vulnerable, at least Bill Gates thinks so. Just because they have the capital now does not mean that will always be the case. Personally, I find the idea of massive amounts of capital accumulating in my pocket quite a good idea.

[therealaj123]

@steve0281 Typical libertardian fantasy bullshit. Deregulation does as much to concentration as regulation does. There will always be laws, there will always be government, and even if you balance it all out to an even playing field, just by technology advancing, in the future the same laws will not have the same effect any more, suddenly favoring some industries over others as progress permeates the whole of society. The libertardian myth: That you could "fix" government once and for all.

[steve0281]

@therealaj123 So what is your solution? Total government control? I am more of an anarchist (little "a") than statist. And your stating something is BS is not the same as it actually being BS. I think what you have done is construct a convenient strawman and defined the philosophy within a framework for you to attack easily. I would virtually gurantee that my Libertarianism differs from your idea of it.

[steve0281]

The difference between the Liberal Utopia and the Libertarian is that the Liberal Utopia is created and enforced from the top down. The Libertarian Utopia is created by each individual for himself.

[KagarBeardtooth]

1:43

Bullcrap. I completely disagree.

[UnderseaCaveman]

5stars and FAVD

[aesopstruth]

The constitution party would be more appropriate for any southern avenger.

[RealArcalian]

What I do ask you to realize is that the very label "Conservative" was damaged goods even before W, and that neither you, nor Ron Paul, nor any other person can save the Republican party from itself. And futher to realize that only libertarians have ever been interested in constitutionally limited government on all issues at all times.

[Stevo2444]

Libertarians will never as a movement gain more than 3-4% of the American public. here views on immigration(illegal and legal),free trade, drugs, and the outright elimination of things like Medicare and Medicaid will never gain enough support. The best way for the Conservative movement to go is in the way of Patrick Buchanan or Ross Perot, or to an extent George Wallace.You need to run a conservative populist campaign against free trade,illegal wars, bailouts,immigration,and a weak crime policy.

[RealArcalian]

First of all, I said that I myself had resigned from the Libertarian party and was not asking SA to join it. I DID say he should leave the Conservative label, and the Republican party, behind. Nor am I ceratin that a true libertarian movement would "never" gain significiant popular support. That said, the rest of your post is more or less what I was suggesting to SA. So thank you for making my own point for me, again.

[kmg501]

Your best one yet and I completely agree with you. This is the essence of mans struggle, to understand that we are hopelessly flawed and that the best we can do is minimize the horrific damage that we are capable of in our hubris.

I find it frustrating and sad that more people don't realize this and I often talk about bureaucratic arrogance as a means to express & convey this idea.

Bureaucrats lose themselves in their ego of successful deals and they forget that deals have unseen consequences.

[eatlecithin]

I don't understand this. So what if man is flawed? What does that have to do with being a conservative? Man is flawed -> Government is flawed? So, I want to minimize the government because that will minimize flawed men?

There will be flawed men regardless of whether or not the government exists.

Go to parts of central africa where there is no government, no elected authorities, what does one see? Nothing but chaos and lawlessness.

[kmg501]

If you truly understand that we're flawed because we're inherently incapable of seeing all the problems with the so called solutions we create for laws on man, then you understand that when it comes to law making, less is more and self restraint in the laws we would like to see brought forth is much better than this constant whack-a-mole we're playing trying to foolishly resolve all of man's problems.

Watch this please. Remove the spaces in the URL.

wimp . com /the government

[eatlecithin]

I will watch wimp.

But I disagree less is always better. Sometimes it is. But sometimes the hand of government or some centralized authority is necessary. If we had no police force, how would we keep criminals in check? If we had no FDA, how would we keep drug producers in check? If we had no SEC, how would we keep companies faithful to stock holders?

But this is how I see the conservative mentality. Conservatives seem like cynics and people who throw up their hands saying I give up.

[kmg501]

I don't believe anyone suggested getting rid of the police. There is a balance which is what that video talks about. The FDA has gotten many people killed because of their heavy handed interference. So I'd rather the choice be in the hands of those personally responsible for their fate than a faceless bureaucrat in the example of the FDA.

I certainly would appreciate warnings from them and good labeling but to give them power over my final decision is the problem.

[eatlecithin]

Exactly. It is about balance. But from what I read and hear, conservative are always saying less is better. I don't hear conservatives talking about balance.

[kmg501]

Because the in the situation we're in, less is very much more right now. Basically it has hit critical mass. The govt has been increasing it's size and authority illegally for decades.

This latest socialist push is basically the last straw, which is why there are now stories of civil strife at town hall meetings. The people are reacting, they have had enough. And please don't try and tell me this is all astro turfers. That simply isn't true for the volume of protests being seen.

[eatlecithin]

Critical mass? But shouldn't that be determined on a case by case basis depending on the area we are looking into? It's clear to me that some form of regulation was needed in mortgage backed securities market.

What is the latest socialist push? Healthcare reforms? I personally can't take a position since I don't know too much about it.

[kmg501]

"It's clear to me that some form of regulation was needed in mortgage backed securities market."

The whole reason that these exotic money schemes came up is because the Federal Reserve and politicians pushed a easy money environment for years that basically left no room for any sane ways of doing business. The bubble creation didn't start with business. It started with the Federal Reserve and both political parties of the GOVT, each for their own stupid & short sighted reasons.

[Theevagabond]

Especially when those central planners of the FDA will say how healthy things are for you relative to the amount corporate evildoers shove in their pockets. This everyone misguidingly associates with Capitalism and the free market, when it is not. Free market businesses want government out of the way just like we want free market out of the government's way. Government should protect one's unalienable rights and private property.

[SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

FDA regulates FOOD too, and it isn't that big of an administration.

[SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

Well, I think both conservatives, liberals and libertarians can agree that quality government can be better than quantity government.

Problem is quality government requires liberalism too, and conservatives would bitch and moan about it.

I am cynical of conservatives; SA aside, rational conservatives are rare, and I don't think that is a new phenomonon

[RealArcalian]

Concentration of financial capital is one of those inevitable things you've been talking about. Even before the Republian party stole--did more than damaged, outright stole--the Conservative label, Conservatives were only selectively interested in limiting government. Ronald Reagan, whom you praise, allowed government to get bigger every year and even Goldwater was not immune.

I don't ask you to join the Libertarian party, I resigned from it myself over the nomination of Bob Barr.

[yakir27127]

No, multiculturalism is not well-intentioned. I hate it when conservatives call liberal evils 'well-intentioned.' None of the branches of leftism are well-intentioned.

I also hate it when people derogate the word "utopian," There's nothing wrong with being 'utopian,' for utopia is, by definition, ideal. Neo-con's and leftists are not utopian, for they do not envision what is ideal.

And 'screwed up' is not appropriate language, especially for someone who calls himself the "Southern Avenger."

[ArcticSlicer]

A great commentary as always. This one being more personal than usual helps to bring perspective to your other commentaries and helps us better understand your point of view.