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Some have questioned my column title, Always Right, Sometimes Wrong, so let me explain.

Politically, I always lean to the right! I have often said that I am the only true conservative I know. Okay, that phrase is an exaggeration. 

Many of my friends and acquaintances identify as conservatives.  But almost all of them, at some time or other, favor retaining their own little entitlements. They want their stuff.  When their personal suckling places, at the government sow, are in danger of drying up, they will usually vote to keep their milk flowing. That's why it is so hard to elect true conservatives.

Here are a few examples.

• For seventeen years, I managed a residential facility for the elderly. The average age of the residents was 86 years. As you might expect, most of them considered themselves to be conservatives. BUT, they get scared about losing their medicare benefits or Supplemental Security Income (which is a pure, unearned welfare handout) and so they usually supported government social programs.
• I have some close acquaintances who are conservative public school teachers.  BUT, any time cuts in education expenses are an issue on the ballot, they vote liberal.
• Public and union employees generally vote to retain their benefits and pensions.
• Students will almost always vote to retain low tuitions or to forgive tuition debts.

It goes on and on.  Those who benefit from the big fat handouts of the nanny state will most likely vote to keep them.

I am a constitutional conservative.  I value freedom more than comfort.  I want the government out of my face and out of my personal life. I want to work for my own paycheck and I want to keep what I earn.  Furthermore, this country is in danger of economic collapse and everything in the budget needs to be trimmed back to a sustainable level.  Government spending is out of control and immoral.

I want a smaller, not larger government.  I want a government that upholds and protects our constitutional freedoms and rights.  I want a blind and fair justice system.  And I want a government that punishes criminals.  That's why I always vote conservative without regard for how it will affect my comfort.

And now I have been proven right.  This poll proves it.  So when the next election cycle is over and you wake up the next morning to find that the big-government liberals have won, you only have yourself to blame.

Ralph M. Petersen; Always Right, Sometimes Wrong

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