The Idealist Party
Many of us have heard the cliche to the effect of, "If you are not a liberal before you are 40 you have no heart, but if you are not a conservative by the time you are 40 you have no brain."
This thinking seems to indicate that liberals are the idealists with the compassionate, naive hearts, that one supposedly grows out of somewhere into maturity. For the most part, although I am registered as an Independent, I have voted primarily Republican for a variety of reasons. The most foundational reason is my agreement with the party's seeming philosophical belief in the autonomy of the individual - that freedoms and responsibility should be apart from the government.
My one major departure from this reasoning lies in the issue of health care. This seems like an issue that deserves recognition as a basic human right, and one that the government may need to ensure is given to each citizen. It doesn't seem right for the people with money to get quality care and those without receive substandard care (if they even are able to receive any care at all).
As many have argued, there are many practical reasons the government ought not go down the road of socialized medicine: quality of care, increased taxation, efficiency issues, etc. One of the primary arguments though is the philosophical voiced by many conservatives that it is not the responsibility of government to be dealing with health care, but rather that of non-profit organizations, individuals, and religious institutions.
Disagreement over this issue is what grounds the many political discussions Brad and I have as of late. This conservative stance is what seems way more idealist to me than the stance of many liberals. Of course I think it would be better if the government didn't have to get involved, but the truth is I don't think in the end people would get the care they need if the government didn't intervene. The churches and non-profits wouldn't get the job done! Maybe I don't have enough faith in individuals on this one. I'd hate to think that I trust the mega-flawed-bureaucracy of our government more than I do private individuals or organizations, but the truth is I think most people are lazy and would rather be taxed a whole lot more and just know that everyone is being taken care of than actually put some of their own time and money into ensuring the same.
I don't know if I can be an idealist conservative on this issue!
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