Re: Welcome......
I think maybe we may be far more typical than most would want to believe. The concept of conservative, at least to me, dictates that I do exactly the types of things that I have been doing, which is private sector generosity in place of public sector.
Consider what I am doing down in New Orleans. My guys are down there teaching. The crews I have scheduled to follow them are teaching crews. I think it goes with the concept of "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but TEACH a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Now I admit that my generosity is limited to trying to help maybe a 100 to 150 people but it is what I can do. And I'm actively collecting money to fund a foundation that will be ongoing, got more donations today (minimum I'm asking for is $1000) to fund future relief efforts. We've set up the framework to allow for direct assistance of needy employees as well as to do future 'emergency fly in support' like we are doing right now in N.O.
All of it seems like it fits into the 'conservative' definition. What does not fit into the 'conservative' definition is the concept of federal support. And I still stand by the fact that the federal government should be the last recource and by law is not even allowed to go in to an area without an invitation from the state. Further, I think that is appropriate. But I also think it is reasonable to suggest that cities and states must mobilize first, and often in advance. Now in a disaster the scope of this one, and let's all be real honest that we have not seen one like this in 2 life times, the federal government must step up. But let's also realize that that while no other agency has the resources to do what the federal agencies can do, there are still laws that we have to uphold state's rights and soverenty. And those laws have hampered the federal effort, but they are still valid laws that must be considered.
Dargo said:I don't exactly fit the greedy, non-companionate conservative stereotype. We have all been caught doing some rather "un-stereotypical" things for being conservatives.
I think maybe we may be far more typical than most would want to believe. The concept of conservative, at least to me, dictates that I do exactly the types of things that I have been doing, which is private sector generosity in place of public sector.
Consider what I am doing down in New Orleans. My guys are down there teaching. The crews I have scheduled to follow them are teaching crews. I think it goes with the concept of "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but TEACH a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Now I admit that my generosity is limited to trying to help maybe a 100 to 150 people but it is what I can do. And I'm actively collecting money to fund a foundation that will be ongoing, got more donations today (minimum I'm asking for is $1000) to fund future relief efforts. We've set up the framework to allow for direct assistance of needy employees as well as to do future 'emergency fly in support' like we are doing right now in N.O.
All of it seems like it fits into the 'conservative' definition. What does not fit into the 'conservative' definition is the concept of federal support. And I still stand by the fact that the federal government should be the last recource and by law is not even allowed to go in to an area without an invitation from the state. Further, I think that is appropriate. But I also think it is reasonable to suggest that cities and states must mobilize first, and often in advance. Now in a disaster the scope of this one, and let's all be real honest that we have not seen one like this in 2 life times, the federal government must step up. But let's also realize that that while no other agency has the resources to do what the federal agencies can do, there are still laws that we have to uphold state's rights and soverenty. And those laws have hampered the federal effort, but they are still valid laws that must be considered.