CrossOver
Drinking Conservative Kool-Aid
by Ambra Nykol

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a young, black woman. You probably see me every day. I look the part and act the part, but on any given day, I may shock you. I'm that one you think you have "figured out" until you engage me in a discussion about politics. I am more common than you think.

I am a Black Conservative.

I do not go around gleefully wearing this label on my back by some self-righteous choice. This is an unsolicited title given to me by a society with its own ideas about what is righteous and just and "culturally acceptable."

My political and social values are rooted in a Judeo-Christian ethic established long before confusing and socially determined political affiliations and philosophical terms.

I'm uncompromising on a number of hot issues, a few of them being abortion rights, homosexual marriage, stem-cell research, and low-educational standards. I'm pro-family, pro-education, and pro-personal responsibility.

While I don't believe morality can be legislated, I believe licentiousness and lawlessness can. We live in a world that often overlooks the consequences of a society that lacks moral accountability. Based on those key beliefs, our society deems me a political "Conservative."

To make matters worse, I am a person of color, and for a person of color (especially a black person) to possess even slightly conservative leanings, or anything that doesn't vaguely resemble the thought process of a bloodline Democrat, they run the risk of cultural ex-communication. In this case, pick your preferred racial idiom: Uncle Tom, Sell-out, Oreo, or Sambo to name a few. It really is all the same after awhile.

Interestingly enough, in this day and blameful age, believing that a person should pay back their own self-inflicted parking ticket could get you accused of being "fiscally conservative." A few years back, when the federal government was accusing Microsoft of "anti-trust," my insistence that there was absolutely nothing illegal about having a "monopoly" consistently got me pegged as a Republican.

I often take the "Conservative" label with a grain of salt. It's just a label. To me it means nothing. Unfortunately, in a politically charged culture, it means everything.

For this reason, "Conservative" is also a label I am more than happy to wear (despite the many Capitol Hill fools who've given it a horrendous reputation). I also happen to be smart enough to know that in an attempt to box you in, people will call you everything under the sun. I figure, as long as I'm going to wear the label, I may as well do so in style.

Wearing the "Conservative" label in style comes with pitfalls. I have my days when I am tired of being a "Conservative." Quotes indicate the stereotypical version of what conservatism means. If being a Conservative means that all I do is have a "form answer" for abortion, affirmative action, abstinence education, illegal immigration, and homosexual marriage, then count me out.

Perhaps some people like drinking the Conservative or Liberal Kool-aid, but I am not one of them. This isn't about inhaling the agenda and platform of an entire group of people. This is about utilizing an all too infrequently used muscle called the brain. If I wanted to regurgitate the GOP agenda (no matter how poorly eloquent), I certainly wouldn't need my brain to do so. Thankfully, the GOP has constituents who know how to do both - a few at least.

When it comes down to it, I am more of a "Philosophical Conservative" than I am an "Ideological Conservative." I have zero interest in debating issues that the two opposing parties have already plainly sided on. Sure I always have an opinion, but really it's not anything anyone hasn't already heard regurgitated in some way, shape, or form. It might be lightly battered in youthfulness, with a tinge of Hip-Hop and a side of sarcasm, but it's the same, old, tired arguments Conservatives have been making for years.

What I am interested in is how conservative thought plays into the daily lives of the average American. What does it look like in the home? What does it look like in education, in music, on the campus or on the job?

I am of the persuasion that a conservative worldview is far more important than conservative political policy. The average Joe (or Cynthia) could really care less about whether Matt and Steve should have the right to fake marriage or how balanced the budget is. But if Joe and Cynthia can see how political philosophy could enhance their family life, they just might take a listen.

Many politicians would rather hide behind political jargon and legislation to make our communities think that they really give a care. Political philosophy should always have a foundation that is tangible to everyone. The term "grass roots" has been tossed around rather freely over the last decade, but I believe it is where politics need to be.

Instead, the unfortunate reality is that these days, politics casts confusing and unfathomable ideas over the collective heads of people who just want a better future for themselves and their families.

This is not popular for a Conservative to say. So you see, even within my "political sphere" I am different. The beauty of a free country is just that - the freedom to think and say whatever I want, regardless of my race or any other false affiliation.

My drink of choice isn't Conservative Kool-Aid; it's common sense.

Conservatism is a direction, not a destination. We're on our way, but for the record, no one (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Green Party) has arrived.

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