Politics: Conservative Ideals

My friend Dave says it sounds like I've abandoned my conservative ideals. He says this in the context of some of my posts in this forum. I don't quite agree with his opinion, but I'll clarify a few things here.

I am very much a supporter of Barack Obama for president, and have, in the past year, switched my party affiliation to Democrat after being a lifelong Republican. I don't consider myself to be a Democrat in-as-much as being liberal. I am currently a Democrat because the party currently has something to offer to me, and that is the candidacy of Barack Obama.

I have come to the conclusion that neither party apparatus really represents people anymore. Both have their pockets jammed too deep with the hands of corporate America. The Republicans have abandoned the conservative values and ideology that made them such a force during the Reagan administration. The Democrats are what they are.

Obama may be liberal in some of his ideology, but he is conservative in his regard for the Constitution and the rights/responsibilities of citizens. He uses some traditionally liberal ideals to help address societal imbalances, but the goal of his policies is a more conservative outlook, where people take responsibility for their own well-being.

I perhaps would never have become enamored with his campaign if the Republicans had not lost site of their ideals; Obama himself perhaps would not be a viable candidate in a system where either major party truly worked to represent the people, but they do not and he does.

I still believe in Family. I believe that we are a nation created and formed under the influence of Judeo-Christian values, as the Framers did. I believe that we have strong yet flexible system of governance that was designed to allow the best aspects of humanity to flourish while holding in check the basic and inherent human flaws we all possess. And most of all I believe that we are all better off when government stays the hell out of the lives of individuals and in the face of corporations.

We are who we are. We are at our best when we can stretch and grow, and we are at our safest when we our reminded by our friends, neighbors and family from time to time when we stray off the path. Even when we don't like to hear it.

Wildy