In my web-site journey of values I have explored, from my American-conservative point of view, the essential difference between conservatives and liberals, the urgency of maintaining our values in difficult times, what a code of conduct might look like, whose fault all this political heartache might be, and what we conservatives must do to right the capsizing vessel that was once the United States of America. I even wrote a short piece for any Democrats bold enough to read my stuff suggesting that supporting Donald Trump today is just as okay as supporting Martin Luther King was in 1965. These are a lengthy and tedious read to make points I think are important. I even summarized all of it in a few paragraphs.

     This essay has one message: support values over personalities.

     While I look at any Clinton, Obama, Biden, Harris, or Pelosi and see character far short of Trump, or any of the conservative Republicans for that matter, it really doesn't matter. Values should be front and center in the political-decision process and there is a clear-cut difference between left and right. From 1789 and 1791, from the 1820s, from 1854, and ever since the right-wing, conservative, Republican effort has been all about the primal sanctity of human life, liberty, and property, the idea that these basic rights are basic enough to be beyond the reach of church of state. During all that time the left-wing, progressive, Democrat effort has been about the subjugation of those basic rights for some greater good from slavery through socialism and now some kind of racial justice.

     The rest of the world (97% of the land area, 95% of the population) has been comfortable with suppression of basic human decency from tribal Africa and slavery through religious crusades and socialism. For 120 years, 1790 to 1910, the United States of America upheld and expanded the rights of life, liberty, and property as outside the reach of church or state. Our little ideological island, three percent of the world's land area, five percent of its population, stood alone venerating the individual human spirit above institutional oppression. We weren't always right, we weren't always perfect, but we went from patriarchal colonial slavery to all Americans being able to participate in economic and political life.

     The importance and sanctity of these principles of human life, liberty, and property and their independence from church or state come down from the Magna Carta on 1215 June 15 to our Declaration of Independence on 1776 July 4 and our Fourteenth Amendment on 1868 July 9.

     As satisfying as first principles are, especially to Ayn Rand's Objectivists, I believe in evidence. The historical cost of theocracy has been staggering and socialism is the same poison without religion, also with terrible cost.

     I can look at the history of American conservatism from 1215 June 15 and be proud of its accomplishments. I don't have to rewrite history to be proud of Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, King, Reagan, and Trump. I see two stumbles in my lifetime, neither enough to tempt me to wander left. The justified fear of communism created a spasm of tyranny in the McCarthy trials where people exercising no more than their freedom of speech were surpressed and blackballed. Another consequence of that spasm was an inappropriate return to religion adding "Under God" to our Pledge of Allegiance (minor) and a "pro-life" movement advocating federal-government intervention against abortion (major) where conservatives spew liberal-style flames on Facebook and make us all look silly and stupid. To his credit, Donald Trump's position on abortion is the correct one for the presidential office, that abortion is a state-level issue with no federal-government position at all.