By CARL MUMPOWER

Though America is suffering through harsh unemployment numbers and growing job insecurities, our corporations are doing better than ever. In fact, thanks to productivity gains found in squeezing existing workers, U.S. corporations recently logged one of the most profitable quarters ever.  That would normally be great news for big business and hopeful news for job searchers, but there’s a catch. A full three-quarters of those profits went to Wall Street banks and investment houses. Yes, these are the same “too big to fail” crony capitalists we bailed out with taxpayer money. Though they were once about lending and stimulating growth in our economy, their new model centers on securities trading and self-protection. So much for Washington’s regulatory reforms. Until America rededicates itself to rewarding the honest rich – those who produce – we will continue to be ripped off by the dishonest rich – those who manipulate. Special interests, rich and poor, are continuing to exchange our “American Dream” for their “American Deal”….

True conservatives not partisan

 During the Bush years, Republicans swallowed a lot of decidedly un-Republican actions. “W’s” expansion of Medicare was the largest entitlement increase in history. Under his hand our military’s budget doubled in size – dangerously paid for with tomorrow’s defense funds. With rare exception, conservatives jumped on a partisan bandwagon that ironically assured the election of the most liberal president in our history. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans have rediscovered their conservative roots while Democrat apologists make excuses for their guy’s follies. In both cases ideological convictions have taken a back seat to being part of a club, often with no greater mission than resisting the other side. Resistance, a la the “terrible twos,” is one of the most primitive forms of identity formation and not remotely up to the task of governance. Real conservatives don’t flock and they don’t buy that “lesser of evils” nonsense. Perhaps that’s the reason that real conservatives are real rare. Standing for something is much harder than going with the partisan flow…

Creeping corruption 

Military commanders contemplating our intrusion on Syria fear something they call “mission creep.” This is where a small unit action grows into a mess with no good exits. Government bureaucracies are especially vulnerable to mission creep. Take social security. When Roosevelt first introduced the program, it was voluntary, contributions were deductible and benefits non-taxable, it represented 1 percent of a person’s first $1,400 of income, focused on retirement, and contributions were maintained in a closed trust fund. Now social security is mandatory, contributions are not deductible but benefits are taxable, it costs us 7.65 percent of our first $90,000 of income, focuses on a host of entitlement promises, and contributions are put into the general fund to be robbed at will. In each case, Democrats have led the creepy mission that’s bankrupted social security. Not surprisingly, they shamelessly sell the lie it’s Republicans who want to destroy the program. Now we’re lining up for socialized medicine under the supervision of Uncle Sam. It’s another point of shame that these same creepy politicians have done one more creepy thing – they’ve subsidized their participation in Obamacare….

The folly of trying to run world

 Real conservatives value reality and the lessons of history – both of which point to foreign entanglements as bad investments under almost all circumstances. Examples of such entanglements include defense treaties, aide programs, rigged trade agreements, and any effort to treat the shenanigans of the U.N. seriously. Sixty-five years after the fall of Berlin, America still has 100,000 troops in Europe. Fifty-seven years ago, we surrendered half of Korea to China Inc. We still don’t have a peace agreement, but we do have a human shield of 30,000 troops as political duct tape. Police work, whether on the streets of Washington or the streets of Baghdad, is dangerous. Experience has taught us, repeatedly, that we are best able to fix a fallen world by first fixing ourselves. America cannot secure its own borders from pedestrian invaders.  We cannot secure our communities from drug thugs. Our economy is increasingly based on spending money we do not have to buy goods we no longer produce. Yet we pretend that we have the power to transform cultures far less functional than our own. Political adventurism, budgetary excess, indifference to our borders and laws, and policing the world are not conservative missions. Too many who embrace the conservative title have sat back and pretended otherwise. Passive conservatism ensured the election of one of the most inexperienced and ill prepared presidents in history – twice. Witness another example of how foreign entanglements always hold unforeseen consequence. There are times when the merits of foreign engagement are compelling. Many argue that our relationship with Israel, an island of sanity in a sea of chaos, may be one of those.  Nonetheless, in any such relationship we should proceed with transparency, realism, and vigilance. The obligations of friendship carry risks as certainly as rewards. Conservative thinkers know our most powerful tool of influence remains our example – not our power, dollars or capacity to meddle in the affairs of others. If America wants to fix the world, then we would do best to fix ourselves first. Nothing produces world change like a beacon of success shining a bright message of hope, normalcy, and prosperity… 

Let states decide right to life choices

The right to life is widely viewed as a foundation issue for conservatives. It’s no small paradox that support for the death penalty and against physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill are also associated with the conservative movement. Assumptions frequently betray truth – the authentic conservative positions on abortion, the death penalty, and the right-to-die are not what they seem. Abortion rights and other life issues involve moral, social, and spiritual considerations meriting society’s fullest attentions and deliberations. Neither the power politics of Washington’s left-right tug of war nor the limited capacities of Supreme Court justices are up to that undertaking. Important issues merit broader scrutiny and creative consideration. The conservative position on important social issues rests on the Constitution.  Judicial and Congressional trumping of the common will has demonstrated the value of the eyes, hearts, minds, and hands of our fifty empowered states. Resolution of crucial social and governance issues is supported through state convention powers under Article V of the Constitution. A conservative’s moral and spiritual position on an issue may run in direct and unpleasant opposition to one’s political position. That is an internal dilemma for each of us to address in our own fashion. It is not an opportunity, however, to confuse the conservative mission by pretending that our pro or con positions are faithfully conservative. Pretend conservative politicos know that supporters’ moral and spiritual passions can be an effective way around principled service. Name recognition and image capture most votes.  Positions on social concerns come next. The words, “I am against abortion and taxes and for veterans and social security,” have elected many a self-serving politician. From a moral, social, and spiritual perspective, the harms from abortion are irrefutable – but personal and political values are not the same thing. This conflict of interest mirrors what many of us face on life choice issues. In the final analysis the authentic conservative political position on the right to life is on how and where these decisions are addressed – at the state level – and not what those decisions should be...

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Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it