The Declaration of the Obvious: I’m Definitively Not Conservative (Miniblog #170)

When in the Course of online events, it becomes necessary for one person to dispense the seeming political (as well as theological and cultural) alignment which has friended him with another, and to assume among the opinions of Zuckerbergland, the separate yet civil position to which his education has entitled him, a decent respect to the opinions of peers requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to restate the obvious. I reject a default bifurcation of reality, particularly that between conservatism and progressivism, as the logical fallacy of false dichotomy. Moreover, I reject the joint tendencies toward anger and oversimplification which so dominate contemporary public discourse. My principle commitments are to:

• The pursuit of truth rather than relational loyalty or institutional allegiance.
• Convicted civility rather than self-righteous posturing or ideological warfare.
• Faithful presence rather than political conquest or cultural hegemony.
• Idealistic realism rather than cynical disillusionment or naive optimism.
• Assertive influence rather than aggressive coercion, passive-aggressive manipulation, or covert-aggressive connivance.
• Prophetic forthtelling rather than mellow quietism, concealed aspirations of power, in-house politicking, or incendiary revolution.

Given this blog’s name it should be no surprise I tend to eschew populist, fervent views on diverse issues ranging from homosexuality to homiletics, nor that I steadfastly refuse to uphold any sort of uncritical party line. My progressive peers seem to have largely accepted that I do not count myself among their ranks, so why the same continues to elude my conservative peers I do not know. Whatever the reason, let me once more offer a declaration of the obvious: I’m clearly not progressive and am definitively not conservative; I’m a hardlining moderate because that’s the inevitable outcome of my 10-part cognitive process. Kapeesh?