Of the 31 flavors of Conservative, Mint Choc Chip is my fav

Since I have been posting a bit about "conservatives" (and plan more in the near future), I considered that the use of term may confer some sloppy connotations at times and thereby potentially betray my actual intent, given that conservative and liberal are often used as stand-in labels for Republicans and Democrats.

But, there are many different variations of "conservative" philosophical thought (certainly Dreher and Sullivan both claim the mantle, but have very different prescriptions for what that should mean socially and politically). And, there are obvious fissures within the Republican Party itself about what being a conservative actually means and where it should place its policy priorities. [See the online kerfuffle (a blogger word if there ever was one) over Kathleen Parker's infamous Oogedy Boogedy op-ed article.]

Thus, in an effort to demonstrate that conservative does NOT definitionally equal Religious Right (or even free-market economics), here's a voter segmentation breakdown of the GOP from Tony Fabrizio's polling agency. I have seen him interviewed on C-SPAN and he seems a very fair and judicious sort, not a partisan cartoon.

[Note: percentiles below do not sum to 100%, but I am not sure if this is due to rounding or simply a small % of Repubs that could not be readily classified in one group or another.]

MORALISTS - 24%
- Laser-like focus on moral issues
- Identify as “strong” GOP and “very” conservative,-
- Only group where majorities are Born Again/Evangelical and go to church at least weekly

GOVT KNOWS BEST REPUBs - 13%
- Focused on social issues
- More likely to be life-long GOPers
- Strongest supporters of government intervention to solve social and environmental problems
- Skeptical of the Patriot Act, many would like to see less defense spending

DENNIS MILLER REPUBs - 14%
- Focused on social issues, esp. illegal immigration,
- Strongly oppose people gaming the system to get a “free lunch”
- They are more likely to be gun owners

FORTRESS AMERICA - 8%
- Focused on foreign policy and national security issues
- Concerned about the war, want to see an orderly end to war in Iraq
- Strong Isolationist streak runs through this group
- See government’s top job as protecting the homeland

BUSH HAWKS - 20%
- Focused on national security issues
- especially War on Terror
- want to see America using its might spreading democracy
- Support the war and are in it to win it, no timeline

HEARTLAND REPUBs - 8%
- Focused on bread & butter economic issues
- More pragmatic and less ideological
- Concerned with gas prices & economic growth
- Less frequent church goers – less focus on Moral issues

FREE MARKETEERS - 8%
- Focused on economic issues
- Skeptical of government action, they want tighter reigns on spending and lower taxes
- Less frequent church goers
- More libertarian -- counterbalance to “Moralists”

Fabrizio notes that in spite of these variations on focus, there are obviously a broad set of issues that (generally speaking) unite the GOP (otherwise they couldn't function as a coherent political party), whereas there are others that cause internal tension:

ISSUES THAT UNITE GOP
- Desire to balance the budget
– Belief that government spends too much
– Belief that taxes are too high
– Belief that federal government is too big and does too many things
– Belief that current immigrations laws should be followed and no special treatment
– War in Iraq was the right decision
– Belief that our Foreign Policy should be based on our own security and economic interests
– Support of employment non-discrimination for gays. **

** Even 60 percent of Moralists believe that private businesses should not have the right to discriminate against gay people.

ISSUES THAT DIVIDE GOP
- Top priority, cutting taxes or balancing budget?
– Whether health care coverage is a right
– Fund SS or allow private investment
– Level of military/defense spending
– Role of federal government in education
– Allowing gays to serve in the military
– Role of federal government on global warming
– Private initiative vs. government safety net
– Influence of religion on public policy
– Abortion **

** On abortion – only 28 percent want it totally banned

So, just for the record, many of my prior references to conservative inclinations were principally designating the Moralist / Gov't Knows Best components of the GOP and the modifications to public policy that they may seek to impose.

On the economic front, I am skeptical, like many a GOP Free-Marketeer, of the government's capacity to efficiently spend tax funds. A federalist approach (i.e. taxes raised locally for local needs) seems to be inherently more efficient than massive spending at the federal level.

But, I have been convinced that my money is safe (enough) with Democrats that I can vote against the heavy-hand of social intervention that some Moralists would seem to prefer the government engage in. In some senses, this makes me socially and economically liberal (in the classic economic use of the word "liberal," which of course today means conservative, only to further cloud the issue from a pure labeling standpoint).

The point, if there is one here, is that conservative, as a stand-alone word, doesn't effectively mean any one specific thing. And, as much as I may delight in the criticism of the lazy usage of language or sweeping generalizations by others, I should endeavour not to spare myself the lash if deserved, though one would hope any prior postings were still clear when taken in their own broader context.