Tenets (continued)

3. Individual rights
We need to affirm the set of individual rights provided to us by the constitution and bill of rights: Freedom of Speech, Religion, Right to bear arms, etc. We do not accept all other individual rights often discussed: right to a job, right to certain level of income, right to health care, right to abortion, etc. It is an individual right to succeed or fail.

4. Maximizing individual Choice.
Choice is an important word in the conservative tenets. By providing greater choice, an individual is allowed to maximize his own welfare, his own utility. An individual knows more and will work harder to satisfy his/her own utility than any bureaucrat or the state. More choice allows the free market to work to its fullest. Monopolies do not provide choice. Monopolies of any sort should be dissolved. School choice is a major player for conservatives: every student age 5-21 should be given vouchers that will allow them to choose the school (private or public) they wish. By doing so, the free market in education will result with much higher dividends for the public as a whole. Those schools that perform better will succeed; those that are mediocre will fail; new schools with new business plans/models will arise and the market will indicate success.
5. Personal Responsibility
We affirm that each individual has the right to make choices and to acknowledge that each choice has an outcome that the individual must then accept. If he/she chooses to drink and drive, the outcome of drunken driving then becomes a natural outcome that he/she must accept and bear the complete responsibility of the outcome. If they have the freedom of choosing bad choices, they must accept the results of their decision. No moral hazard. No nanny state. We must return to accept the personal responsibility of our own actions; if one chooses not to stay in school, one must accept the results of that decision.
A return to equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. There will also be winners and losers; some better than others. If everyone wins, no one wins. Self-esteem should not take center stage rather personal motivation.