The Conservative Test

Lots of people who wanted to be politically correct or seen as appropriately compassionate voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and the Democrats in Congress in '06 and '08. Now we are all living with those decisions and watching liberalism run completely amok in D.C. According to this American Thinker piece lots of people are having "Eureka!" moments and realizing that in fact, they're not liberals at all but are very comfortable with real conservative values.

The piece includes 30 items that might help you decide if you're a conservative or liberal:

I am against the federal redistribution of wealth.

I am against entitlement politics.

I am against American czars.

I am against apology tours that denigrate the greatness of our country.

I am against tax-and-spend politics.

I am against government takeovers.

I am against amnesty citizenship for those who have entered our country illegally.

I am against the out-of-control printing of money.

I am against legislation designed to do away with free speech (Fairness Doctrine).

I am against big government.

I am against trillion-dollar government stimulus package slush funds.

I am against treating our allies like enemies and our enemies like friends.

I am against politicians who do not let us drill for oil.

I am against politicians who look the other way while Iran and North Korea develop nuclear weapons.

I am against government-run health care.

I am against health care bills that provide abortion funding.

I am against backroom deals by politicians that circumvent transparency and the Constitution.

I am against trillion-dollar deficits.

I am against high taxes.

I am against treating all people to the identical security scrutiny in airports.

I am against bills that provide special exemptions for legislators.

I am against bills that provide special privileges to certain states.

I am against those who would stifle an honest global warming debate.

I am against the federal funding of corrupt organizations like ACORN.

I am against "Miranda rights" for foreign terrorists.

I am against confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed getting a civilian trial in NY.

I am against cap-and-trade legislation and taxing carbon footprints.

I am against the closing of GITMO and the bringing of terrorists to American soil.

I am against letting the U.N. tell us how to live.

I am against a president who does not believe in American exceptionalism.

If you agree with most or all of the above, congratulations, you're a conservative! We'll send you your official decoder ring after you vote out the Democrats in 2010.

Rush Limbaugh has long said that most people live their lives as conservatives, regardless of what political values they may claim to support. They may think abortion should be readily available to everybody...except their own daughters. They may claim that illegal aliens should be given amnesty...as long as they don't move in next door. They may be opposed to capital punishment for everyone...except the guy that does something to their loved one or commits a terrorist act against Americans. Much of liberalism is simply a desire to be seen by others as a member of the enlightened class, but in many the liberal values don't run very deep.

People are now discovering that they don't much like what they see when liberalism they thought they supported is unfettered and inflicted on them. We call those people "former Democrats".