I claim the old school...or at least attempt to (if you're old school you don't run around saying "I'm old school damnit!" ...that's indiscrete). While not a conservative like Bowen, I do believe that at an individual level whether we want to be a professor, or a pipe fitter, or an MC, you've got to work hard and exert discipline.

But thinking about conservatism as an American ideology, I've had the same problem claiming it as I have claiming the American flag. And while I've gotten to the point where I now claim America as mine, claiming conservatism has been a harder road to hoe.

The central reason is simple. For me it's been exceedingly difficult telling the conservatives apart from the racists. Specifically when it comes to policy preferences. I know I know...not all conservatives believe (for instance) that black people are inherently inferior, or that they are unAmerican, or that they are genetically predisposed to criminality. While I can't say that my best friends are conservative, I can say that I know a number of conservatives personally, and that many of them are good and decent people.

But when it comes to policy preferences, being good and decent doesn't really count for much to me.

To get a sense of how intertwined conservatism and white supremacy has been historically check this story out. I've always thought William Buckley to be eminently respectful and well–spoken. And I suppose there is a subtle argument that can be made against Brown v. Board...or giving black people in the South the right to vote. But if you're making that argument, no matter how subtle, no matter how nuanced....you're on the other side as far as I am concerned.