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May 5, 2015      3:55 PM

Bearse: Imposters in the Temple

From the Right: Quorum Report's conservative columnist Eric Bearse argues the term "conservative" has been hijacked by libertarian absolutists and that must be challenged.

It occurred to me, as I was watching the debate about Rep. J.D. Sheffield’s immunization transparency bill, HB 2474, that there is a certain movement within the Republican Party that has redefined conservatism without ever really being challenged on it. Rep. Jonathan Stickland is viewed as the loudest, most brash conservative, Tea Party voice in the Texas House. As Rep. Myra Crowner might say, “I challenge that.” At least the conservative part.

Leading a flanking movement against Sheffield’s immunization bill, alongside Rep. Bill Zedler, Stickland asked Sheffield how much privacy he was willing to sacrifice “in the name of public health.” Perhaps the proper retort would have been, “how many lives, Rep. Stickland, are you willing to sacrifice in the name of privacy?”

Here is a conservative principle for you: your right to privacy ends where my harm begins. Here is a second, more over-arching conservative philosophical principle: government doesn’t exist to protect me from myself, but from you.

Stickland and company would have us believe conservatism means an absolute right to not vaccinate your children, and more importantly, to not allow schools to report to the state the number of children that are not vaccinated. This requirement itself protects confidentiality, and therefore privacy, but that is not good enough for the absolutists.

The absolutists also think open carry of a firearm limited to people who are licensed to carry is not good enough. There must be a de facto, constitutional right to carry. This absolutism has the practical effect of giving convicts barred from owning or carrying a weapon a presumption that they are legally doing so. This is not conservatism. It is nonsense.

The complete column from Eric Bearse is available in the R&D Department.

By Eric Bearse