Capitalism, unregulated, has led to Robber Barons and concurrent treatment of workers as merely another cost of production. The point: greed led to dehumanization of fellow men (& women & children also in sweatshops even if not in the mines too). Caveat: is such dehumanization inevitable? Have all cases of relatively unregulated capitalism led to such excesses?

We often hear capitalism works on a recognition of greed’s power. 

 - Greed can be seen as an inherent evil. Greed has perennially been one of the 7 Deadly Sins (pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth).

 - What is greed? Greed is the drive to improve one’s lot in life, taken to extreme. Definition: “an overwhelming desire to acquire or have, as wealth or power, in excess of what one requires or deserves” (Webster’s New Riverside University Dictionary).  Therefore, a simple desire to improve one’s lot in life is NOT Greed, any more than eating for health & nourishment, is a desire to be a glutton.

 - Effects. Greed, unchecked, led to Robber Barons at least in the USA and in Britain. Some capitalists, like some of any group, will become fanatics. Are robber barons capitalism’s fanatics, or at least one brand thereof? We may not know the answer, but we do know that far from all capitalists become robber barons.  Probably, for every robber barron (or, today, 'golden parachute executive), we can find at least one noted philanthropist to match.  Philanthropists are but one example of the opposite of a robber baron.  But even more basically, greed is not the all-consuming factor in capitalism.  Capitalism’s essence, seen in all the  is that it allows each person to use natural talents to better his lot in life – and the lot of those he cares about or does honest business with. Just as eating tends to gluttony in many, capitalists often tend to greed of robber barons.  

 - Analogy time. Greed is much like an amazingly attractive force. A tool one can use: capitalists can simply avoid the excesses of greed. But there are possibilities still, when one finds himself already far down the path to greed, and greed becomes overwhelmingly powerful. He can make the moral decision to shear away from greed’s sucking force. That decision can be codified into law, just as is codified the morality to not steal or kill in any other ways. 

I spent 20 years in uniform. In 20 years, I was betrayed. I swore an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic'. While I 'manned the walls', somebody let the enemies under the walls and into the courtyard: fellow countrymen have allowed internal rot to erode the force & effect of the constitution I defended. Outright betrayal.

Still, a point to amplify: betrayal from arrogance 'reaching across the aisle' to the usual liberal suspects.

As a conservative, I have a memory that I'm not afraid to use. I remember the lies & duplicities of liberals & outright admitted socialists, of 'compassionate conservatives', and of would-be conservatives who behave as if having tumbled gyroscopes for their Jiminy Crickets. Being conservative also means I believe in an immutable standard of right versus wrong, that I'm not ashamed to call a lie a lie, and that I insist all should stick to the agreed rules, like the constitution ... or leave us.

No, the 80% change I want is to take the kid gloves off against those who throw mud to see what sticks. I want to lose the politically correct veneer: the politics of personal destruction is NOT in calling a lie a lie, it's in telling the lie in the first place. Those who speak plainly, unashamed to point out the lies, those are the candidates I'm willing to vote for and support. Conservatism does this. Conservatives will send a Packwood packing just as quickly as sending away a Studds, while the liars will join against Packwood, but circle wagons around a Studds. 

Most of America doesn't give a hoot about 'partisan politics' so much as we want integrity we can trust ... integrity that forbids betrayal. ENOUGH with lies and all the rest of Relative Morality's hidden praise of duplicity!

Conservative victory, the phoenix of integrity ... we need it.

Anybody ever notice that Republican success in national elections is directly related to how conservative the Republican is???!!! ('DumbOxBellowed' blog shows details in a featured essay.)

I wish the 2008 ticket was Palin-Anybody, with a cabinet including Thompson, Gingrich, Alexander, Keyes, DeLay, Lott, Santorum, Thune, etc. (I remember how some of them were tarred & feathered, run out of DC on a rail, then exonerated. THAT is the politics of personal destruction.) No human is perfect, but a cabinet like those names would probably keep each other true to politics of service, away from politics of self-embellishing duplicity.