You Just Might Be A Conservative

By G. E. Shuman

I am a conservative. There is little doubt about that. I was raised in a conservative family in what was, at the time, the conservative state of Maine. We lived in a small town, and had few luxuries. We were a Christian family that attended a conservative Christian church whenever the church doors were open. We were very happy. My family cared about people. We tried to help others when we could. We had a huge garden every summer, and one way we helped others was that my dad gave away all the vegetables that we didn’t happen to use. Dad always planted and grew many more vegetables than we ever could use. My folks took in foster kids because those kids were less fortunate than us. When I was a boy I was a Cub Scout. As such I learned about honor and decency, about patriotism and conservation. I learned the correct way to fold a flag. No, I learned the correct way to fold an American flag, and the correct way to respect that American flag. Between those Cub Scout meetings and Sunday school I somehow learned to respect God, my elders, and my government. In the Cub Scouts I also learned to appreciate nature and our planet, and to not waste or pollute… anything. I guess, in a way, I learned to be a conservative environmentalist. Lest you believe that to be a contradiction in terms, let me tell you that it is not.

I began thinking about these areas of my past the other day, while in the supermarket. At the time, I happened to be passing the ‘organic’ section of the produce department. Without meaning to offend, it has always seemed curious to me that so many people are attracted to that section, seemingly oblivious to how completely the natural, un-dyed, hand-combed wool is being pulled over their eyes there. Vegetables, like carrots, tomatoes and turnips, are sold with greens and vines still attached, in an effort, presumably, to make them seem more natural and farm-fresh. Nothing in the organic section is plastic wrapped, plastic being evil and all. Being the conservative that I am, I always doubt the value of paying more for carrots with the tops still attached, than for carrots which have been washed and bagged for me. I have heard about natural and unnatural fertilizers, but to me, those bagged carrots are ‘organic’ too. In fact, I would argue that the only thing anyone ever eats that is not or was not an organism is table salt. That is a mineral. Yes, prepared, boxed foods may have chemicals in them, but I am writing about raw vegetables here. Let’s not compare apples to oranges, although we could, as every single one of them is organic, naturally, plastic bag or no plastic bag.
Whether or not you think I eat unnatural vegetables now, it was not always this way. My very conservative family ate very naturally, indeed. We had that big garden, you know. And my mom cooked and fed her family from it. She pickled and canned, blanched and froze what our garden produced, each year. We had big bags of potatoes, and boxes of squash all winter because of that great garden. We also raised very organic-seeming pigs and chickens. At least I think they were organic. They certainly smelled it. My conservative dad even made his own root beer. Mom made and repaired clothes for me and my five siblings. We conservatively wore hand-me-down coats, and hand knitted mittens and hats in winter. Dad spent many evenings keeping our car running, but we never went far from home anyway. Between that one car and a tiny lawn mower our eight-person carbon footprint was probably not very big. Our family truly honored hard work, and believed in the blessing of robust, thriving big businesses that employed many people. We thought our government was good. Remember now, we were conservatives.

It surprises me how much things have changed. Back ‘in the day’, as they say, we had some radically ‘liberal’ people who liked to be called hippies. Those people, unlike people I would compare them to today, were truly independent. Can you remember the motto: DO YOUR OWN THING!? If you are my age, you will. Those old hippies wanted very limited government. In fact, they called our government ‘big brother’, and ‘the man’. Unlike the social architects of today, who seem to encourage the growth of and dependence on big government, the hippies hated ‘the establishment’. Remember that? Instead of seeing any good in tax increases, they often refused to pay taxes at all. They believed in flower power, and in living simply; pretty much as simply as we conservative families did back then. The hippies valued all life, and would have agreed with Mr. Theodor Seuss Geisel, (Dr. Seuss,) and his character Horton, who stated that: “A person’s a person… no matter how small.”

Here is how I believe things have changed. The political left, in some cases the very people who once demanded an end to ‘the establishment,’ embraces an ever growing government today. The political right wants that government limited as much as possible. The left is in the process of bailing out the same, very big, polluting, lobbying, businesses it has been fighting for years. The right wants our great national ship to right itself, perhaps painfully, but naturally, without borrowing ever more from our great grandchildren. The left seems to want government to always do more, thereby having more and more control over our individual lives. The right wants government to stay out of our lives, and let us ‘do our own thing,’ just like those old hippies did.

No offence at all is intended to my liberal-minded friends, (Yes, I do have friends.) but the party that once was the party of the little guy has now become the party of huge government, and of big brother bailing out big business. What in the world has happened? The conservative party, the party which includes me, my wife, and, by the way our state seems to vote, about six other Vermonters, is the party of self reliance, rugged individualism and independent thinking. And, now I’m going to tell you a secret. No matter what you’ve been told, that’s what true conservatism has always been about. Think about that. If you have experienced, or at least agree with most of what I have written here, you just might be a conservative. (I won’t tell.)

Footnote: A friend of mine recently came up to me, in the very same supermarket where I started thinking about writing this column, and made a suggestion. He said I should start my own conservative publication, as, in his words, (not mine,) conservatives are simply being told to: “shut up and pay for it.” Out of mild curiosity, if you think that publication would be a good idea, let me know at vtreasures@myfairpoint.net.