Political Smell Tests, Number 2

Just as sniffing a block of cheddar can give a hint as to whether or not it is to funky for ingestion, there are simple ways which one can discern where a politician's loyalties lie (e.g. with himself, his constituents, the constitution etc.).  These are political smell tests, and I am outlining some here to help discern whether or not a candidate is truly a conservative.

Political Smell Test #2: Get A Whiff Of Their Words
And by this I do not mean analyzing content necessarily, rather specific words off of which they tend to play.  For instance, when discussing illegal immigration, a liberal will use race-related words (e.g. civil rights, African American, Hispanic etc.).  This is not to say a conservative won't say such words, but they will not play a major part of his argument.

If you are listening to a candidate, and he is referring to Utopian concepts as attainable (concepts such as "fairness", "equality" (in terms of outcome) etc.), he is not at all likely to be a conservative.

And keep in mind, this is not because Utopia is undesirable, nor because the conservative seeks to deny Utopia from anyone; rather, it is because the conservative is honest with himself and with his audience that it is not attainable on Planet Earth.

Political Smell Tests

I've been giving some thought as to what makes a good, conservative candidate for a political position.  Coming forth from all this thinking are some, what I would call, smell tests that I have discovered I use, and which you might want to consider adapting yourself.

Political Smell Test #1: Do They Reek Pro-Choice?
I am not by any means a single-issue voter.  However, that being said, where an individual stands on abortion can reveal a lot about that person's character and his moral (and potentially ulterior) convictions.  If a candidate is pro-choice, he is stating one of two things.  Either he does not attribute inherent value to the sanctity of human life, or he does not realize the extent of the development of a child before birth (which would explain his having value for human life while at the same time being fine with disposing of it).  Either way, the candidate is not prime choice for the position; the one shows his lack of regard for humanity, the other his lack of research on a current and relevant issue.

After all, if they do not show reverence for human life, when it is in its most (and only) innocent and defenseless form, why should they value the minority they claim to value.  Why would they value liberty and freedom, when they have no problem robbing an unborn child of his entire life?

Look out for further smell tests, coming soon!