re: #39 Sergeant Major

“South Carolina GOP Gov. Mark Sanford was one of the movement’s darlings and attended some of the state’s tax day protests”…politico
I thought this movement was about getting back to a more conservative movement. I guess It’s okay to associate with a governor that can’t stay faithful to his wife while representing the “conservatives” that elected him. The hypocrisy amazes me…no it doesn’t.

You’re confusing political Conservatism with the bilge peddled by the Religious Right, which has actively sought to co-opt the movement for several decades. Barry Goldwater was famously unhappy with them, and was quite adamant that they did not represent Conservatism in any way.

Given that one of the core principles of Conservatism is small, non-intrusive government that stays out of it’s citizen’s private lives to the greatest extent possible, it’s easy to see how the theocrats don’t fit. Yet they’ve managed to usurp Conservatism’s name and used it as leverage to further their own agenda.

As far as a true Conservative is concerned, there would be nothing hypocritical about someone having an affair. It simply wouldn’t be anyone’s business other than those people directly involved.

If Sanford were an adherent to the views of the Religious Right (I have no idea if he was or not) then hypocrisy might certainly be an issue for him. It doesn’t attach itself to whatever Conservative principles he may uphold, if any, because Conservatism has no position on such matters.