Conservativism

To the Editor: 
I have seen a number of articles claiming that a person or politician is a “conservative.” That would impress me more if I knew what “conservative” means.
I think that I used to know, but now I’m not sure because most of the things “conservatives” used to stand for, like fiscal responsibility, limited government, respect for law, narrow interpretation of the Constitution, etc., I don’t see them standing for today.
Certainly, interpreting the Second Amendment to include the right to openly carry firearms and own large-capacity rifles is hardly a narrow interpretation of “militia” or “arms.”
Trump’s CARES Act created the largest single federal deficit ($1.7 trillion) in the history of the U.S. and Rep. Van Drew, who calls himself a conservative, voted for it.
Many ‘conservative’ states are now telling teachers what they can or cannot teach – hardly limited government or respect for freedom of speech.
“Conservative” Christian groups were calling for Mike Pence to be hung. I hope that isn’t the heart of “conservatism,” but if not, what is?
Perhaps the answer lies not in what is claimed, but rather who claims to be “conservative.”
First of all, it should be observed that rural people and the elderly have throughout history been seen as conservative. The young and the urban tend to favor liberal philosophies and policies.
Most conservatives today in the U.S. are Republican. Most Republican states are at the very bottom rankings of educational levels of states.
Almost all the states that are highest in homicide rates, according to the CDC, are conservative Republican. Most of the lowest, including densely populated NJ, of course, are not.
Pew Research has noted a very important phenomena – college educated adults are 50% more likely to be liberals and vote Democrat than those with less education.
All that is fact. My personal opinion, after having taught students of all levels of capability, is the less capable kids tend to be more conservative. New ways of doing things are often daunting for them simply because it often requires new thinking and analytic skills at which they don’t excel. The opposite tends to be true of the brighter kids; they tend to like the challenge of change.
Interestingly, college professors tend to be both higher IQ and liberal. Studies show that scientists, another bright group, strongly tend to lean left or center, rarely right.
Interestingly, that dichotomy was illustrated in interviews published last year in the Herald concerning candidates’ views on ameliorating our chronically limited year-round job market here in CMC.
Democrats Carolyn Rush, a career engineer, and Tim Alexander proposed jobs for the county through new energy sources and high tech; Van Drew proposed the same old, same old and is now strongly opposing new energy development for the county.
Needless to say, the above characteristics are generalizations and should not necessarily be applied to specific individuals. However, that seems to be the best picture I see of overall conservatism today if we look at the realities and not the rhetoric, and it isn’t particularly impressive.