I consider
myself to be pretty conservative. That’s
a fraught thing to say in today’s rancid political environment, but it makes me
feel better to admit it. It’s also not
easy to say for somebody who has never voted for a Republican in his life,
opposed the war in Vietnam and the endless wars since, backed the impeachment
of Richard Nixon, supports abortion, equal pay and same-sex marriage, worries how
the current occupant of the White House will do harm to me, and remembers that
his parents and grandparents idolized Franklin Delano Roosevelt for saving the
country.
I suppose
those things make me a lib-brull to those addicted to Fox News, but they’re
wrong. My type of conservatism, like
wisdom, seems to have come with age, outside the left-right political divide. Here’s how I define it: If change is needed, it should be
gradual; don’t throw the baby out with
the bath water. If it works, don’t fix or
discard it. If it’s broken, repair but don’t destroy it. Compromise is always better than
discord.
So how does
this conservatism play out now that I am in my eighth decade of life? Consider these rules I follow:
(1) Don’t buy a new car every few
years; keep it for at least ten years, change the oil frequently and
enjoy it as it ages gracefully with me.
(2) Wear clothes until my spouse
claims they look shabby, then donate them to charity.
(3) Grow, harvest and can my own
vegetables; it puts me in synch with nature, and all it takes in some
seeds, some water, some sunshine and some hands in the dirt.
(4) Tolerate today’s music, movies,
books and TV shows, no matter how loud or graphic; don’t bend anybody's ear to whine about how much better
they were when I was young (even though
they may have been).
(5) Don't snark back at
stupid Facebook comments. This one is really difficult for me.
(6) Keep calm and don’t curse when
learning a new app or other technological advance with instructions written in an unknown language.
(7) Watch my bank and investment
accounts with a hawk’s eye, and worry just like my parents did that a buck you spend
today is a buck you won’t have tomorrow.
The nest egg needs to last at least a long as I do.
(8) Follow the advice Polonius gave
to his son Laertes in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” -- “Neither a borrower nor a lender be. For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”
And, most of all, don’t force my religious or political beliefs on others and don’t consider people with a different point of view to be enemies. That’s what dictators do.
