
Originally Posted by
Blome
I could try, but you have to realize that true conservatism has been horribly maimed since George Wallace, the man largely responsible for the southern take over of the GOP (the south was predominantly democratic before), and Pat Robertson's religious insurgency in the 1980's. It was further distorted in 1994 when the Republican party became the majority in the House and the Senate and the main concern became party soliderity/power rather than principle. It would be easier to give you examples and a few good books on the subject than to find an accurate site.
I'll just give you one example of what I mean by inaccurate:
War in Iraq: "This was a preemptive strike to protect the U.S. All intelligence indicated that Saddam Hussein possessed and used weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the past and was prepared to use them again. He would not allow United Nations weapons inspectors to confirm his claim that he had destroyed his WMDs.
A democracy can succeed in Iraq if the people are given the opportunity to create one. All people want to live in freedom."
This is inherently a Wilsonian trait, who was a Progressive/liberal not a conservative. Wilsonian ideology was adopted by the neoconservatives, or "new" conservatives, starting around the 1960's-1970's. Conservatives err on the side of reluctancy regarding military force and they don't believe in spreading "democracy" through force nor do they condone preventative strikes.