Real World: Why is Social Conservatism Important?

Several things happened last week that highlight the vital role social/religious matters play in our lives, be we Christian, Pagan, Jew, or Atheist.  The first is an assault on the Catholic Church (I would say Christianity generally) by the Obama Administration, and the second is the demagoguery over the Komen foundation's choice not to support Planned Parenthood (founded by noted eugenicist Margaret Sanger) while they are under Federal investigation.  They are merely examples of the cultural Civil War this nation has been fighting since at least the 1960's, and probably far longer.

On the one side, we have the Social Liberals.  As with all Liberals, they are not about "liberty" at all, but about controlling what people can do and when.  They hate that the Catholic Church stands on its principles of Life and refuses to provide contraception.  They view any deviation from their Liberal Dogma as sin, as evidenced by the vitriol aimed at the Susan G. Komen Foundation due to its decision to suspend funding for Planned Parenthood in light of their current Federal Investigation.

On the other side, we have the Social Conservatives.  Social Conservatives believe in real social liberty.  Do what you want to do- and then accept the consequences.  Want to have promiscuous sex?  Go ahead.  Have fun.  But remember this when you get pregnant: that is a life inside of you, and that child has more right to Life than you have right not to be inconvenienced.  Want to go out partying every night?  Go ahead.  Have fun.  But when you get fired because you're unreliable at work, or when you lose your scholarship because you haven't been studying, or when you run your car into a pole- remember that it was your choice to have that fun, and fun always comes with a price.

Now, if that's all it were, we might be able to sit back and just let it work itself out.  There might not be a "right" answer to these questions.  Indeed, if the only thing at stake were consequences for social actions, we might just try to find a middle ground.  But that's not all there is.  There is much more at stake.

Social mores have societal and fiscal consequences.  At the bottom, these are all items related to self-control versus self-indulgence, and a self-indulgent culture is one that is more easily controlled in other matters.  Don't think the Liberals haven't noticed that.  For them the abortions and the sex and the partying are secondary, at most.  If they could get what they want without them, they would have no problem with abandoning them.  However, a society that embraces debauchery is a society which has abandoned the idea of self-control.  And if you cannot control yourself in one thing, why should you be trusted in anything?

And so the Liberals achieve their goal: if you cannot be trusted to do things responsibly, then they will relieve you of that responsibility.  They'll couch it in flowery terms- "freedom to choose," and "privacy," are two of their favorites- but make no mistake, what they'll be doing is taking your liberty.

And so we come to why Social Conservatism is important.  Social Conservatism reinforces societal norms which lead to responsible behaviors without government intervention.  Social Conservatism causes people truly to be responsible, and provides the true liberty of choice.  And because of this, Social Conservatism is an aid Fiscal Conservatism.  By encouraging people to be responsible on their own, Social Conservatives reinforce the ideas of thrift and hard work, of honesty and loyalty.  They then enable people to ween themselves off of the Government's narcotics of welfare and control, and so enable the responsible shrinking of government.