THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609070005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 31 lines
I guess I'm just confused. I wish someone would explain to me why there are so many different types of conservatives out there. The list seems endless to me. Here are some of the ones that I've heard from time to time:
Religious conservatives
Fiscal conservatives
Moderate conservatives
Right-wing conservatives
Social conservatives
Right-to-life conservatives
Pro-choice conservatives
Black conservatives
I'm sure there are others, but you get my drift. Seems like conservatives are trying to out-conserve one another.
In a conversation with conservative Thomas Sowell on PBS, David Gergen allowed as how a conservative might be described as a liberal who has just been mugged. Seems to me with a field this diverse, there must be a lot of specialized mugging going on.
To take off on Mr. Gergen's little truism, I find that a liberal is a conservative who has just been confronted with a disaster beyond his/her control or is faced with cuts in middle-class or upper-class programs.
ERNEST L. PEACOCK
Norfolk, Aug. 28, 1996 by CNB