The Calling Out Community is unapologetically conservative in thought and belief. But what does that exactly mean?

Conservatives hold to a political philosophy that favours tradition (in the sense of various religious, cultural, or nationally defined beliefs and customs), as opposed to the “progressive” social change that liberals like to talk about – and which we deem to be damaging to society, the family, and the nation.

Some of these beliefs that we hold on tight to include:

• (From the Apostles’ Creed):
  We believe in God, the Father Almighty,
  We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
  Creator of heaven and earth.
  Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
  Born of the Virgin Mary in the little town of Bethlehem
  Had a powerful ministry until the age of 33,
  Performing miracles, casting out devils, raising the dead.
  He suffered under Pontius Pilate,Was crucified, died, and was buried;
  He descended to the dead.
  On the third day He rose again;
  He ascended into heaven,
  He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
  I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  The Church universal,The communion and fellowship with the saints of God, believers in Christ
  The forgiveness of sins,
  The resurrection of the body,
  We believe in the imminent Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ,
  In the Second Coming of Christ to set up
  a Millennial Kingdom to reign on Earth 1000 years.
  and He will come to judge the living and the dead.
  And for the believer, He has promised life everlasting, having prepared a place for all believers in Heaven to dwell with Him forever.

• Support for the traditional family unit, which includes marriage between a man and woman only, a family that avoids
• A social safety net to assist people who have a truly demonstrated need is a sign of a compassionate society, but this demonstrated need for services should be requested and audited annually, and should never be considered permanent. We believe there should be an emphasis on Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Programs with a comprehensive Employment and Training Program designed to promote self-sufficiency, with recipients assessed to determine the best course of action – whether it is immediate placement into a job, placement into an education or training program, or both.
• Strong patriotic devotion to one’s nation, and an equally strong push against the rise of globalism, seeking to destroy the idea of individual nations.
• Support for business by encouraging entrepreneurship, capitalism, a free market economy, and individual creativity and expression – and then getting out of the way and letting business develop organically.  Liberal groupthink, socialism, government programs encouraging business growth and development, and redistribution of wealth or division of resources equally amongst all parties – none of it ever actually assisted business to grow. We believe that government’s role is to reduce restrictions and red tape, whenever possible, that hampers or hinders a free market economy from functioning effectively.  And then stay out of that business afterward altogether.
• Belief in a strong military as a deterrent to threats from external forces.
• Support for the middle class, which is believed to be the driving force behind the economic growth of a nation.
• Support and protection for individual property rights and ownership, over the ownership of same by the state.
• Support for economic or entrepreneurship class immigration, and the limiting of the refugee immigration class to people who have a grasp of the national official language(s), or a willingness to learn; those who have stated adherence to a shared belief in the same principles that guide the nation (i.e. agreement with any Constitution or Charter of Rights), and individuals that do not have any criminal activity while in the host nation. The host nation reserves the right to remove said individuals from the host nation if found guilty of any criminal activity within the host nation.
• Zero-tolerance position on illegal immigration – it is a crime against the nation that must be prosecuted whenever possible. No special rights or government services should be provided to individuals in such cases, as it merely encourages more of the same reaction from potential illegal immigrants. Those who violate the border laws in a nation should be provided no special rights, and no one should be given the right to vote unless they choose to become, and are sworn in, as citizens of that nation. Any reduction in cheaper labour as a result of acting on existing immigration laws could easily be met by millions of young people and lesser-skilled Americans, who could be job-retrained, and increases in labour costs would naturally be born by society as a whole, the price we pay for ensuring our citizens are first allowed the chance to work, before any foreign national.
• In the United States and Canada, the strong continued support for freedom of religion, and the diligence in protecting the same includes the insistence that the state continues to be separate from the Church.  In other words, the government stay out of the fairs of the Christian Church, and not dictate what we can and cannot believe in our home country.
• A “tough on crime” justice system, which protects the victim and punishes the perpetrator, support for mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes of a more damaging nature (drug dealing, murder, rape, incest, pedophilia and other such crimes) as a deterrent.
• Belief in the sanctity of human life, which includes protection for the unborn, and a strong opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Support for the limited use of capital punishment (in cases of especially heinous acts) as a means of deterrent – which is not a conflicting belief with the pro-life efforts towards the unborn, as criminals on death row are proven guilty of horrific crimes, and the public in that region are generally well aware that committing such a crime could/would lead to this drastic sentencing.
• Support for the reduction of personal income taxes is preferable to a significant raise in the minimum wage, as the latter will hinder economic growth, the hiring of fewer young/unskilled workers by small businesses, and cause a general cost of living increase. The reduction or elimination of personal income taxes for those same targetted groups will reduce operating costs for the business, and provide more disposable income for the wage earner. In addition, the encouragement of merit-based pay systems, which encourage maximum productivity.
• Support for the reduction of corporate income taxes to encourage economic growth, with a simultaneous reduction of some previously-offered government services, both to pay for the new tax cuts and to encourage a reduction of government waste.
• Elimination of “pork-barrel budgeting”, the influence of special interests or the lobby efforts of big business on government, and the elimination of entitlements. These may be seen as benefiting local constituencies who receive them, but often the process for awarding same is vague, biased, non-competitive and may even be unethical.
• A strong belief in the upholding of personal responsibility, and empowerment of the individual to solve their own problems, without government interference or control.
• Support for measures to protect clean drinking water, clean air and a clean planet, all without repressive restrictions that hinder economic growth and destroy jobs.
• The belief that natural events are the cause of global climate warming and cooling, and though Man should be a good steward of the land, water, and air around him, he is not capable of causing climate change and has no ability to solely stop it. As a result, efforts by Government to institute repressive taxation regarding climate change are seen as a mere tax grab that will do nothing to solve the issue, and will, in fact, damage the local economy.
• Particularly in the United States, with some cross-over in Canada and in rural areas of many other nations, the belief in the individual’s right to bear arms. The belief that gun control does not reduce gun violence, as criminals do not adhere to gun control laws. Strong belief that the person has the right to defend themselves, their property and their family against hostile forces, and the right to hunt for food when and where ethically and legally allowed.
• In the United States and, to a lesser degree, in Canada, the belief that health care should be at least partially, if not completely privatized – that government will never be able to run a health system as efficiently or cost-effectively as the private sector. The belief that a “free”, government-run health care system does not actually exist – the costs to run such a system are ever-increasing and unsustainable, and the wait times to access some services are prohibitive, even at times life-threatening.
• In general, the belief that, in any industry where the option between government-run versus privately run services exist, the government has never been successful at getting into the business of being in business, and should privatize such services.

• And we believe in, support, love and encourage the independence of the State of Israel, and the Jewish people within her borders, as well as all Jewish peoples located in any other nation on Earth (the Diaspora).  We believe the Jewish people have a right to their own homeland, and a right to exist anywhere in the world they may choose to live; their sovereign right to protect the borders of the State of Israel against all enemies, foreign and domestic, by any means necessary, including the strongest military presence financially and physically possible, as a deterrent to terrorism, military intervention and Holocaust; Israel’s ability to financially , survive and to thrive in the world economy, which includes our unrestricted opposition to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment Sanction) movement;, and subsequent shaming of all nations or corporations who seek to be a part of this unlawful activity; and Israel’s important place in the heart of God and the calendar of End Times events, prophesied in Scripture.   We also believe Jerusalem to be the eternal capital city of the State of Israel, and support all governments who will strive to declare the same.  We declare, in front of the world, that we will do all we can to fulfill the promise “NEVER AGAIN”.

Josiah William Bailey, a Democratic senator from North Carolina, was very much a conservative to the core – and would go on to author the Conservative Manifesto in 1937. (Credit: The American Conservative)

There are many conservative heroes that have forged a path and left behind a legacy for us, that today we can, with confidence, move forward on.  They have helped the conservative movement to figure out what it stood for, what is important to us, and what battles we must fight for – and even die for, if necessary.  Most of their stories are well known.  I have one today, however, that I’ll bet you haven’t heard much about.  And you need to.  We all do.

It all started with a group of lawmakers in Washington, DC, who met together in 1937 to discuss what they were going to do about the “New Deal” plan of President Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party, to get America out of the Great Depression.

These lawmakers were very concerned that, since the start of the Depression, the US government had turned into a suffocating welfare state that “we the people” no longer controlled.  What was Roosevelt thinking?  That kind of politics might work in the Soviet Union, whose citizens were used to government ownership and control of everything. But this was America – the “land of the free, and home of the brave”. They felt they had to do something.

So together, these men sat down and came up with a plan for how to deal with the financial crisis (and with Roosevelt himself) and they called it…the Conservative Manifesto. Today, it stands the test of time as being quite possibly the most perfect definition of what a true Conservative believes, and what motivates him/her.  The group that wrote this document was headed by Josiah William Bailey, a Senator from North Carolina, who had already built a strong reputation as a conservative by this point in his career, and was very much opposed to President Roosevelt’s New Deal.

And now… the twist to the story? Senator Bailey was not a Republican.  Nope, he was a Democrat.  Yes, so was Roosevelt and the government of the day.  This Democrat was motivated enough to serve the people well that he ditched party politics, and was, therefore, able to get senators from both parties to sign on to this document, which is incredible when you consider that he was not from the traditional Conservative party.

They had been working in secret behind Roosevelt’s back. However, eventually, the news of the clandestine meetings of this bi-partisan alliance was leaked, and fearing political repercussions, most of the Senators (including Republicans) denied any involvement with the creation of the Conservative Manifesto.  Except for one.  Yep, you guessed it – a guy from the traditionally liberal party – which ran both the government of the day and occupied the White House – had written a document defining what it meant to be a conservative.  And when even conservatives tucked their tails and ran from the Roosevelt administration, Bailey took full responsibility for it.

THAT is the very definition of real leadership.  That is what a conservative hero looks like.  In fact, that is what any hero would look like.  Even more amazingly, this conservative document he created has stood the test of time, often quoted and used as a guideline to this day.

So we salute Senator Bailey, for reaffirming and reminding us that men of principle and substance have existed in government in the past, and can do so again in the present and future if men with a backbone step up to the plate and will not blink in the face of opposition and uncomfortable consequences.

The Conservative Manifesto’s ten points were as follows:
1. Immediate revision of taxes on capital gains and undistributed profits in order to free investment funds.
2. Reduced expenditures to achieve a balanced budget, and thus, to still fears deterring business expansion.
3. An end to coercion and violence in relations between capital and labor.
4. Opposition to “unnecessary” government competition with private enterprise.
5. Recognition that private investment and enterprise require a reasonable profit.
6. Safeguarding the collateral upon which credit rests.
7. Reduction of taxes, or if this proved impossible at the moment, firm assurance of no further increases.
8. Maintenance of state rights, home rule, and local self-government, except where proved definitely inadequate.
9. Economical and non-political relief to unemployed with maximum local responsibility.
10. Reliance upon the American form of government and the American system of enterprise.

(Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Theresa May holds a copy of the manifesto, during the Conservative Party May 18, 2017. (Credit: Conservative Party)

In addition, the Conservative Manifesto of the British Conservatives was also released on May 18, 2017, just prior to their federal election in June.  In 88-pages, it covers five major beliefs:

1. A strong economy that works for everyone.
2. A strong and united nation in a changing world.
3. The world’s great meritocracy.
4. A restored contract between the generations.
5. Prosperity and security in a digital age.

Some would argue, perhaps correctly, that her proposal did not make “A Stronger Britain” because she is not a stronger Prime Minister, that is desperately needed right now post-Brexit.  Oh, Margaret Thatcher, perhaps you were ahead of your time – we could sure use you now!

Tags:  Conservative Manifesto, conservative, beliefs, what we believe, statement, Bailey, Mayes, Prime Minister, United Kingdom, United States, 1937, Roosevelt, New Deal

By Shawn J.
Founder, Calling Out Community
Posted: February 22, 2018
[God’s Got A Plan For You!]