Thank you, Dr. Blum, for giving me the opportunity to explain conservatism to you. Your letter in WHT on June 11 was a nice invitation. But perhaps it’s better to explain what causes us conservatives to rebel against what liberalism has put us through over the years — especially the last eight.
We believe in preserving the Constitution because we think it is a guide which has served us well since 1787. It is the supreme law of the United States of America. It delineates the national frame of government. It has served us well since then. We find challenges today which are not acceptable to us.
We conservatives abhor how the executive branch of our government brandished military-style rifles when they confiscated wood which the Gibson Guitar Company uses to build a tremendous product.
We resent being lied to by our president. Remember, “You can keep your doctor,” and “It will save everyone $2,500 per year in health insurance costs?”
We hate the additional debt that our country has now as its burden, $19 trillion. This policy may someday cause a huge problem in the future. It’s not just a number, Dr. Blum, it’s got to be paid by someone, sometime. Such a burden inhibits our country from investing it elsewhere in our country where it’s needed.
We feel violated when we are forced to buy a health insurance policy we don’t want.
We hate how some in this country have turned against those who have died for this country in the military. They kill cops and riot and generally cause havoc against the fabric of our nation.
We hate how terrorists were being welcomed into our country freely with the understanding that they very well might cause more terroristic acts given the chance. We believe that our federal government should make sure our borders are secure. Those who want to come into this country should go through a regimented process.
We conservatives cherish our flag and don’t see it as an item of free speech. It is a symbol of how we love this country and respect those who have died for it.
We conservatives don’t think the president should treat our hard-earned tax money as a slush fund to be spend any way he/she feels. Recall the solar ventures the past president put our money into and then immediately lost it.
More people in this country now receive government aid than those who work full time. We are not adverse to helping our unfortunate or the sick or the disabled, but there are many able-bodied people who will not work because they earn more from the government than they can by working at a job.
Our past liberal president has stymied American medical innovation with an utterly destructive tax on medical devices and has caused hundreds of thousands of workers to lose full-time jobs because of the health costs imposed by Obamacare.
We know that our last president’s divisiveness began with his forcing Obamacare through Congress as the only major legislation in American history to be passed with no votes from the opposition party.
We think that a man’s word is his bond. If a person says, “I take ultimate responsibility” for a certain situation, he or she should respect those words instead of blaming others for their own incompetency. Think Benghazi and the secretary of state as an example of this. And our secretary of state should be prosecuted for lying about what really happened there. We all know there was no video which caused the deaths of four Americans. What difference does it make? Well, we think we should have people in our government who don’t lie to us.
We conservatives want our jobs to stay home, not leave our country. We honor our flag when we sing our national anthem. We want respect for our military, for our police and for our flag.
We believe this is a Christian nation. It is multi-cultural and multi-religious but basically we believe in the principles the holy Bible teaches us.
In the last eight years we have seen home ownership plummet. We’ve seen median family income dive. We’ve seen labor force participation deteriorate. We’ve seen health insurance costs double. We’ve seen the printing of money skyrocket. We’ve seen more people on food stamps now than ever before.
We conservatives know that 95 percent of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens and 75 percent of people on the most wanted list in LA are illegal aliens.
We want the country run as a business, which means that we don’t spend money we don’t have. We should balance the budget.
We have seen the United States at its weakest, with fewer allies, and with less military and diplomatic influence than at any time since before World War II.
We respect the leaders of other countries but we know our president should never bow to others. We know that Sharia Law is not compatible with the laws of this country.
When you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license but not for being in the country illegally, we think this is wrong. We think logic should prevail in TSA when an 80-year-old woman can be strip-searched but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head and cannot be searched because of her religion.
We don’t believe we are deplorable and we don’t appreciate our government calling us names.
Sue D. Nimms is a resident of Kailua-Kona.