In the beginning, several friends decided to start a blog to discuss their ideas, their lives, the world, and other insignificant things. They decided to blog mostly about politics, though they were fairly certain they’d post on other topics every now and then. Since they hoped that they’d get attention, they decided that their first posts should help their readers answer the question, “Who are these snarky bastards?”

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all interested in politics, that we’re coming from the right. It’s also fair to say that we’re an unorthodox bunch, which is why some of us hesitate to call ourselves conservative. I like the term “man of the right,” but I’m more likely to be called “right-wing dork.”

I’ll toss out a few vague generalities right now, and I’ll try to flesh them out in future posts. I think the U.S. military has earned at least several Nobel Peace Prizes, but how it’s being managed needs work. Let me just note for the record that the army’s quality is related to its quantity: it needs to be big enough to do all its jobs well. I think we’re more likely to deploy troops in nations that abuse their citizens. Human rights should be an issue because a nation’s foreign policy reflects and extends its domestic policy. We can’t expect a nation to treat Americans better than it treats its own citizens. This is why our foreign policy should be tied to defending liberty and human dignity. The evil regimes that oppress and abuse their own citizens will oppress and abuse Americans if they have the chance.

Our first commentator, Em (back when we were experimenting with Blogger), asked how fiscal conservatism tied in with social issues. “Tax policy is social policy,” said the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We get more of what we subsidize, and less of what we tax; right now the government pays people not to farm, and taxes hard work. A related problem is that when politicians waste money, they usually pay no penalty, which leads to more waste. (Note: Even though I’m singling Don Young out in the past few links, I’m irritated with everybody on Capitol Hill who’s porking off right now.) One thing I think all contributors agree on is the need to stop waste, so here’s a quote from the inaugural address of one of my heroes, Calvin Coolidge:

“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of government. Every dollar we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.”

Still, economy isn’t going to solve everything; for that matter, everything can’t be solved. What’s wrong with the world is original sin, that people are more apt to evil than to good. We’re much more prone to fury and venom than to pity and compassion. The world will never be perfect, but we hope it will be more good than bad. What we have to do is preserve what good we have and work out the bad. We started this blog to discuss refreshing conservatism. I think that G.K. Chesterton anticipated our approach in Orthodoxy, so I’ll leave you with this thought:

“The corruption in things is not only the best argument for being progressive; it is also the only argument against being conservative. The conservative theory would really be quite sweeping and unanswerable if it were not for this one fact. But all conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone, you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must always be painting it again; that is, you must always be having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post. But this which is true even of inanimate things is in a quite special and terrible sense true of all human things. An almost unnatural vigilance is really required of the citizen because of the horrible rapidity with which human institutions grow old.”