Haver Blog:- 'Is Andrew Sullivan a Conservative?'

Source:Haver Blog- Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan, speaking at Harvard University, about being conservative.

“I wanted to talk tonight about some things that appear to be contradictions—religions, political philosophies, that are thought to be in conflict, but are not in conflict… I want to try and argue that our politics have been too simplified and polarized, that our culture is too divided, that we need to accept the complexity and flawed nature of being human… [I want to do it] in a semi-autobiographical way, in covering three things about myself that I have been told for years cannot coexist… I want to come out tonight as a Christian. I want to come out tonight as a conservative, and I want to come out tonight—in a much less controversial way—as a homosexual. Certainly, I think Haverford would view the latter as the least provocative identity to grasp, but that’s because you haven’t heard me talk about what I believe Christianity and conservatism really are.” 

From Haver Blog 

"Andrew Sullivan, blogger and political commentator with The Daily Beast was at the JFK Jr. Forum on November 17, 2011 to deliver the annual Theodore H. White Lecture. Mr. Sullivanís remarks focused on his definition of Conservatism. Mr. Sullivan highlighted the need for Conservatism in today's society, saying, "Now more than ever, Conservatism is needed to rescue our world." 

Source:Harvard University- Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan, speaking at Harvard University.

From Harvard University

"Absolutely. I wrote a book on my conservatism, 'The Conservative Soul.' But in so far as the word has been hijacked by religious fundamentalists and emotionally arrested Randians, I am not one of them. I'd fit easily into a conservative party in any other western democracy. But the GOP is a rogue in the western world - the most extremist right-wing party in any modern democracy by a mile. Banning all abortion and all gay marriages? Denying climate change science?" 

From Politico 

Andrew Sullivan is exactly what a Conservative should be in a political sense. He represents exactly what conservatism actually is and not how it's been stereotyped. 

The fact is Andrew Sullivan is a Conservative but the Christian-Right populist Tea Party GOP today is not conservative. (At least in the political sense) Not so sure about that anymore and I guess since they've combined their religious views with their political views, they believe they can credibly call themselves Conservatives.

But the GOP aren't and here's why: a political Conservative is someone who believes in conserving individual freedom. Thats how Barry Goldwater and Ron Reagan built the Republican party that remained intact up until the early 1990s when Bill Clinton became President and the GOP went theocratic and statist. And not just that a Liberal Democrat from the South was now President of the United States of all things.

Everything that President Clinton essentially represents, now came to power as well, someone who was from the 1960s generation and was looking to progress America past the 1950s and that generation and wanted to make America more inclusive for all Americans. 

The Far-Right Confederates were fairly quiet during President Reagan's and President Bush's tenure, but once Liberal Democrats came to power, they made their voices known and the GOP and conservatism has been going downhill ever since.